Surely there has to be a better way for members of Grey County council to change their own salary system.

Just over a week ago county councillors approved a new per diem for themselves. County councillors will now be paid a half-day per diem - $90 - for travel and preparation time for those occasions when they have to travel out of town for meetings of boards and associations they have been elected/appointed to on behalf of county ratepayers.

We are skeptical about the need for county councillors to receive a half-day per diem for driving and reading. County councillors receive mileage for any driving they do. In addition, we question why a per diem for "preparation time" - or in another word: reading - is necessary. Is it not a basic job function of a county councillor to keep themselves up-to-date and informed about the issues of the day?

The optics of this latest pay change are terrible. The local, provincial, national and worldwide economies are all in a great deal of turmoil. People are losing their jobs every day. In Grey County the Ontario Works (social assistance) caseloads have gone up by more than 20% during the first three months of 2009.

Yet - despite all the economic issues - county councillors appear to be on a constant drive to increase their own entitlements. Already this year, county council pushed through a change to their pay structure that resulted in significant salary increases for members of council. Just a couple meetings ago county councillors attempted to circumvent the sliding scale mileage rate it only approved a short time ago by implementing a "floor" to the rates. This attempt was defeated at the council table.

Now councillors have approved (in a tight 40-39 weighted vote) a new per diem for driving and preparation time for out of town meetings.

We believe the process for these kinds of changes is flawed. It is inappropriate for the county's finance and personnel committee to look at county council salary issues on a piecemeal basis. County council should establish a timetable for regular review of its salary issues that involves a committee made up of public members (a similar process was used to study the overall salaries of county councillors recently).

Changes and recommendations can be brought forward by the committee directly to county council for debate and discussion.

County council in its entirety should be responsible - with a full debate - for making these kinds of changes to its salary structure.