Minimum wage bill will 'bankrupt' municipalities, mayors warn premier

Ontario's municipalities say they're hoping the provincewill make good on its pledgeto ensure the proposed minimum wage law won't send theminto the red.

Premier Kathleen Wynne got an earful about the proposed legislation from elected officialsatthe annual meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in Ottawa this week.

Bill 148 wouldboost theminimum wage from $11.40 to $15 perhour, starting in 2019.

It would also bring in equal pay for part-time workers and increaseon-call pay forfirefighters and other emergency workers.

Municipal workforces in Ontario areheavily unionized, and some municipalities are worried the unions will agitate for salaryincreases for their members if the minimum wage rises.

As well, smaller municipalities rely heavily on part-time and on-call workers, so the provisions in Bill 148 are expected to hit them especially hard.

Smiths Falls MayorShawn Panko said salaries make up 75 per cent of the town's budget, and worries the provisions in the billwill cost his community thousands, and force property taxes up.

"Ihope that wesee some changes to the billbefore it passes in the house," Panko said.

"It would absolutely bankrupt a lot of our communities," said Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield to applause from other attendees at the town hall-style discussion with the premier at Ottawa's Shaw Centre on Tuesday.

"Would you please commit to either completely trashing bill 148 altogether, or at least sit down and come up with something reasonable that's not going to bankrupt us?" he asked Wynne.

"We're not going to trash Bill 148,"Wynne replied, but she promised to work with municipalities to make sure there are "no unintended consequences" of the legislation.

A study commissioned by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce estimatesmunicipalities will be forced to increase employee wages by $500 million if the bill passes unchanged, and if they're unable to find offsetting revenues.

Large municipalities appear less affected by the proposed changes. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the provisions in the bill would likely mean $2 millionin extra spending, or less than 0.1per cent of the city's $3-billion annual budget.