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à ~ iViitons Lýonmunity Newvspaper Sitice 1 860 R E AL E S TAT E See what's on the market inside S POR T S Barefoot water-skier medals at worlds ww.niltoncanadiancharmpion.com C O M M U NJ 1 T Y Breastfeeding Week approaches IE TH VA SU A Merolnd edi Grup Pbliatin -Vol 147No.57 uesaySepembe 26 206 4 Paes *$1.0 (ncl G..T. \Public school trustees up for big pay raises GRAHAM PAINE/I CANADIAN CHAMPION HOLDING ON: Graham Bird, 12, has his hands full trying ta hold Rachel, his entry in the Youth Beef Show Saturday ai the annual Milton Fall Fair. See more fair coverage on page Al 4. By Tim Whitneil SPECIAL TO THE CHAMPION A citizens' advisory committee has recommended current Halton public school board trustees get maximum retroactive pay and that future trustees get a significant raise, in accordance with new remuneration guidelines established by the Ontario government. The decisions of the six-person citi- zens' group, which met last Tuesday, were announced at a Halton District School Board meeting Wednesday The sextet - consisting of three parent representatives and three comn- munit>' reps, ail of whomn serve on school councils - have recommended back pay that would give each current trustee $8,153 to cover the retroactive period of September 1, 2005 to, September 1, 2006, as set out by the Ministry of Education. An additional amount of $1,882 would be paid to cover September 1 to November 30, 2006, the end date for trustees' current term of office. As for a trustee's regular pay, called an honorarium, the group recommends it be bumped to, $13,159 per year for the new four-year termn starting December 1, 2006 and ending November 30, 2010. As in the past, the mîttistr>' is retain- ing a provision that gives the trustee who's elected chair of the board an extra $5.000 per year; the vice-chair gets an additional $2,500. Theres also an extra student enrolment component and the local committee is recommeod- ing the chair and vice-chair get an addi- tional $2.290 and $1.145 respectively. That leaves the new annual recom- mended pay ai $20.475 for the board chair and $16.830 for 13e vice-chair. A series of' formulai wsere provided hv ithe gos ertmeot to corne up 'vith trustees' potential retroactive pay and iocreases to their annual hionoraria. Trustees' annual pa>' has heen $5,000 since the Conservative govemn- ment of Mike Harris changed the pay scale in 1997 to a fiat-rate systemn for the 72 school boards in the province. Previously, trustees set their own pay, which, depending on the board, could be two to 10 times higher than the cur- rent $5,000. In 1996, Halton trustees received $12,252 aninually while the board chair got $ 18,372. One potential pay increase the local citizens' group rejected was a maxi- mum $50 for each meeting attended by trustees as a member of a couple of spe- cific sub-committees. They recommend no pay to attend those meetings. A new policy on trustee pay needs to be passed by the board before the citi- zens' committee recommendations are enacted. A special board meeting will be held before the next committee-of-the- whole board meeting on October 4. see TRUSTEES on page A3 cmnside Today's Champion DATEINE A5 OPINION A6 BUSINESS A12 CHAmpioNCOTJNTRY A13 CLASSIFIED A21 wwwrmltoncanadlianichampion.com www.miltontoyota.com GORRUD'5 AUTO www.gorrudsautogroup.com QUALTY OES ATTR -SINCE 1930- 11RT Palam 1.00 Cr Wite GoMid