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The cornerstone policy

The Pay Accountable to City Taxpayers (PACT) Bylaw

A crowd-sourced direct-democracy bylaw drafted in public. If passed, it ties the pay of London's mayor and councillors to the municipal tax rate council sets on your home each year. Every percentage point that rate rises above inflation locks in a permanent percentage point of pay decrement. It survives every future base reset. Rate cuts erode the decrement back toward zero. The bylaw never generates a pay increase by itself.

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Every parameter, every section, every suggestion (accepted or rejected) is public. The audit trail is the accountability.

Pay Accountable to City Taxpayers

How the PACT bylaw works

Today, without PACT

Council pay re-calculates on its own

Indexed every January to census income. Base re-pegged to the 70th percentile each census cycle. Nothing ties any of it to your tax bill.

What PACT would add

One new section, layered on top. Everything above still runs, untouched.

Council sets the tax rate on your home

PACT reads one number: the municipal tax change on a home that didn’t change.
↓
2
A running tally moves with it

Starts at zero. Never goes below zero. Only the rise above inflation counts.
- Up 8%, inflation 2%tally +6 points
- Up 2%, inflation 2%no change
- Down 2%tally −2 points
↓
Pay is cut by the tally

Applied last, after the City’s own rules have run. A 4% tally pays 96%.

The tally survives every reset. Re-pegging the base does not clear it. Only a tax cut, or a repeal, brings it down.

Four years, worked through

Base held at $94,222 to show the PACT effect on its own. Real base pay also moves under the City’s existing rules. Inflation shown at 2% each year.

Year	Rate	Inflation	Tally	Pay
1	+5.0%	2.0%	3.0%adds	$91,395
2	+4.0%	2.0%	5.0%compounds	$89,511
3	+2.0%	2.0%	5.0%holds	$89,511
4	−1.0%	2.0%	4.0%erodes	$90,453

A rate increase that only keeps pace with inflation never moves the tally. Only the amount above inflation adds to it, and a rate cut shrinks it either way.

PACT only ever cuts pay. It never pays a bonus.

How council pay works today

London's elected officials are paid under City Policy CPOL.-70(b)-220, the Remuneration for Elected Officials and Appointed Citizen Members Policy. Section 4.2 of that policy adjusts pay on January 1 each year by the average annual variation in Londoners’ median full-time employment income, drawn from published Statistics Canada census data over the most recent census period.

On November 4, 2025, council voted 9 to 6 to expand that policy on the recommendation of a Council Resourcing Review Task Force report. The package added a new layer underneath the annual indexing: a one-time reset of the base pay, before the indexing runs.

The new base pay is set at the seventieth percentile of full-time employment income for Londoners. The seventieth percentile means the income level at which seventy percent of full-time London workers earn less, and thirty percent earn more. The base councillor salary will sit above what most full-time working Londoners take home, by design.

The same package also locked in a recurring re-peg of the base against future Statistics Canada census data, so the seventieth-percentile target updates automatically every five years. On June 23, 2026 the City wrote those November 4 decisions into the policy itself: the census re-peg is now section 4.3 of the policy, and the Deputy Mayor and Budget Chair stipends are section 4.4.

The numbers, in plain dollars:

2025 base councillor pay: about $67,420.
2026 effective base pay, at the start of the next council term on November 15, 2026: about $94,222.
The difference: $26,802, or 39.75 percent.

That is the council pay raise nine of fifteen voted for. Outlets reported different percentages because they measured against different baselines, not because anyone got the math wrong: against the 2025 base of $67,420 the raise is 39.75 percent, and against the 2026 sitting salary of $69,783 (the City’s own task force workbook, applying the policy’s current 3.505 percent annual adjustment) it works out to 35 percent. CTV reported 35 percent. CBC reported 35 percent. Western Gazette reported 39 percent. The City’s own math, applied to the City’s own benchmark, produces 39.75 percent.

The asymmetry

Council pay tracks median income from census data. The November 4 vote reset the base and locked in a recurring re-peg. That is how a councillor’s pay changes. Even if council raises property taxes year after year and makes life more expensive or difficult for the people who pay it, their pay continues on its own track.

This is not an oversight. It is how the system is built. London is in the same position most cities are in: council controls both the tax rate and its own pay benchmark. No rule connects performance on one to compensation on the other.

Most cities accept this. London does not have to.

The Pay Accountable to City Taxpayers Bylaw closes the gap.

How this works in plain English

This bylaw adds one new section, section 4.5, to the City’s remuneration policy. The new section creates a running tally called the accumulated decrement, expressed as a percentage and starting at zero.

Earlier drafts numbered this section 4.3. When the City amended its own policy on June 23, 2026 and took that number for the census re-peg, this bylaw was renumbered and re-audited within days, in public, with the change logged in the version history. A platform on GitHub can keep up with City Hall. A platform on a brochure cannot.

Each year, the decrement updates with the tax rate council just set. The number PACT reads is the change in municipal tax on a home whose assessment did not change, measured against inflation:

If the municipal tax on that home goes up 5 percent and inflation is 2 percent, the decrement goes up by 3 percentage points. Only the part above inflation counts.
If it goes up 2 percent against 2 percent inflation, the decrement is unchanged. Keeping pace with the cost of running the city costs council nothing.
If it goes down 1 percent, the decrement goes down by 1 percentage point, floored at zero. Decreases below zero do not bank as credit against future increases.

Why the rate, and why a home that did not change? A tax bill moves for three reasons: council sets the municipal rate, MPAC reassesses the home, and the Province sets the education rate. Council decides only the first. PACT reads only the first. New homes joining the tax roll lower the rate an existing home pays for the same levy, so growth pays for growth without any special adjustment. In a year MPAC reassesses, the Treasurer compares the home to itself, so a rate that falls only because the assessment roll rose does not count as a tax cut. Education rates and water and wastewater charges never enter the calculation.

Inflation is the Statistics Canada All-items Consumer Price Index for Ontario, the same series the City’s own remuneration policy already uses. A rate increase at or below it never moves the decrement. A rate increase above it counts only for the amount above it. A rate cut erodes the decrement in full, in any year.

The decrement is then applied as a permanent percentage reduction to council pay, on top of every other calculation:

Section 4.2 of the existing City policy still indexes pay each January 1 by census income variation. The decrement does not touch that calculation.
Council can still reset the base every census cycle, exactly as resolution 2025-C06 directs. The decrement does not block that either.
After those calculations run on their own, the decrement is multiplied in at the final step. A decrement of 6 percent means council takes home 94 percent of what they would have otherwise received that year.

The decrement persists across base resets. If council re-pegs the base in 2028 (as resolution 2025-C06 directs), the decrement still applies to the new base. The only way to wipe the decrement is to cut the rate enough to erode it, or to repeal section 4.5 itself by passing a new bylaw through the same public process.

The decrement has no upper cap. If council raises the rate enough across enough years, the decrement can drive pay to zero. The bylaw includes a hard floor at zero so the final payable amount never goes negative.

Five properties keep the rule honest:

It is mechanical.: The decrement is a math operation on the residential tax rate in the City’s annual rating by-law, adjusted for any MPAC reassessment and measured against inflation. Council does not vote on whether the decrement applies in a given year. Once the rating by-law passes, the City Treasurer applies the update automatically.
It survives every re-peg.: The accumulated decrement is a separate state variable. Future councils can change the base, change the indexing, or change anything else in the remuneration policy. The decrement still applies on top until it is eroded by tax cuts or until section 4.5 itself is repealed.
PACT only cuts pay. It never gives a raise.: Tax hikes grow the pay cut. Tax cuts shrink it, down to zero. The pay cut never turns into a bonus. Pay raises always come from the City’s existing rules: annual cost-of-living indexing and the periodic base reset.
The Treasurer publishes the numbers.: The City Treasurer calculates and publishes both years’ residential tax rates, the reassessment adjustment, the resulting change for a home that did not change, the inflation figure, the amount that counted, the accumulated decrement, and the final pay payable to the Mayor and Councillors in the City’s annual budget documents every year. The math is on the public record.
It reads council’s decision only.: MPAC sets assessments. The Province sets education rates. Water and wastewater are fees. None of those can move the decrement, up or down. Only the municipal rate council itself votes on can.
PACT doesn’t touch the budget itself.: Council keeps full authority to set the tax rate at whatever level a given year genuinely needs; PACT changes nothing about that vote. What changes is that council shows that they’re willing to lead by example when asking the taxpayers to sacrifice more.

The legal text is below. Every section has a “Suggest a change” button.

How this becomes reality

PACT is a by-law. It adds one section to the City’s Remuneration for Elected Officials and Appointed Citizen Members Policy, an instrument council adopted by by-law (CPOL.-70-302) and has amended by by-law three times since, most recently in June 2026. It rests on council’s existing authority under the Municipal Act, 2001, which the bylaw’s preamble cites section by section. There is no new department to create and no provincial sign-off to wait on.

Below is the path it takes, with the sections of London’s Council Procedure By-law (A-61) that govern each step.

A councillor files it. An amendment to the remuneration policy starts with a member of council. I (Matt Millar) drafted this one and intend to introduce it if elected.
Notice of motion goes to the City Clerk. A member files a notice of motion in writing and the Clerk directs it to the next regular standing committee meeting (section 11.1). Material has to reach the Clerk by 9:00 AM on the Monday of the week before that meeting (section 27.10).
A standing committee takes it up, in public. The Clerk routes items to the committee whose mandate covers them, under the schedules to A-61. Council pay touches the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee through its Finance, Taxation, Payroll and Council Support Services mandate, and the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee through Governance and long-term financial policy. Every member of council sits on the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (section 24.1). Either way the item lands on a published agenda at a meeting open to the public.
Londoners speak before anyone votes. Any resident can ask to be heard on an agenda item by written request to the Clerk by the same deadline (section 36.1), and gets five minutes (section 36.6). No committee member can move a motion on the item until the public has finished speaking (section 33.1).
Council can send it to staff first. Either the committee or council can refer it to Civic Administration for review before deciding (sections 33.11 and 11.17). If enacted as drafted, section 4.5(e) then directs the City Treasurer to run the calculation every year without a fresh council direction.
The committee reports to council. Committee recommendations arrive at council inside a report (section 27.7). Any councillor can ask for this recommendation to be voted on separately instead of inside the block motion (section 19.2). Where electronic voting is available, a recorded vote is taken on every motion and each member’s vote is publicly displayed and entered in the record (sections 12.13 and 12.16). Where it is not, any member can call for a recorded vote and the names go into the minutes (sections 12.14 and 12.15).
Three readings. Every by-law gets three readings before enactment (section 22.3), and all three can happen at one meeting (section 22.4). Debate and amendments happen at second reading (section 22.6). A majority of the members present carries it. A tie defeats it (section 12.12), and a member present who declines to vote is counted as voting against (section 12.7).

There is no conflict-of-interest bar on the pay question itself. Section 4 of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act exempts a member’s interest in remuneration they are entitled to by reason of being a member, so sections 5, 5.2 and 5.3 of that Act do not apply and every member can debate and vote on this. The bylaw says so in its preamble.

What stops a future council from repealing it?

Nothing does, and section 4.5(g) of the bylaw says so out loud. A future council can amend or repeal it by passing another by-law. Council can also suspend most of its own procedural rules by a two-thirds vote (section 2.3), so the exact route is not fixed in advance. Undoing PACT takes a by-law either way, and a by-law takes three readings at a council meeting whose agenda is published ahead of time.

There is one added friction in the first year. A motion to reconsider the same council decision within twelve months takes two-thirds of the whole council, and only a member who voted with the majority can move it (sections 13.4, 13.5 and 13.6). That restriction covers reconsideration of the original decision. Other routes to repeal are not subject to it.

That is the protection PACT offers. A future council can undo it. Doing that means passing something, in public, that puts the money back in their own pockets.

Pay Accountable to City Taxpayers (PACT) Bylaw

Status: draft, public consultation | Version: 3.1-draft | Last substantive review: 2026-09-22

Note to readers. This bylaw is a single-section amendment to the existing City of London Council Policy “Remuneration for Elected Officials and Appointed Citizen Members Policy” (adopted by By-law No. CPOL.-70-302 and amended by By-laws No. CPOL.-70(a)-408, CPOL.-70(b)-220, and CPOL.-70(c)-189). It adds one new section (section 4.5) to that existing instrument. It does NOT re-enact base pay, annual indexing under existing section 4.2, the zero floor and wage-freeze pause in section 4.2, the 2027-2028 Councillor base-compensation update codified in existing section 4.3, the Deputy Mayor and Budget Chair additional compensation in existing section 4.4, or any other component already in the City framework. Those provisions continue to operate untouched; PACT applies its decrement to their combined result.

Why section 4.5. On June 23, 2026 the City amended the Policy (By-law No. CPOL.-70(c)-189) to codify Council resolution 2025-C06 parts (d) and (h) as new Policy sections 4.3 and 4.4. Re-verified against the live london.ca policy page on 2026-09-14: the legislative history lists CPOL.-70(c)-189, section 4 runs to section 4.4, and the page was last modified June 24, 2026. PACT therefore enacts as section 4.5. The section number is to be confirmed against the then-current Policy at the time the carrying by-law is introduced.

What 3.0-draft measures. Earlier drafts (2.2-draft through 2.5-draft) measured the City’s total property tax levy, net of assessment growth, as a stand-in for “rates went up.” That stand-in is exact only while MPAC assessments are frozen. When assessments move, the levy can stay calm while the bill on an individual home jumps, or fall while that bill rises. 3.0-draft replaces the stand-in with the thing a homeowner actually pays: the residential municipal tax rate that Council itself sets in each year’s rating by-law, measured on a home whose assessment did not change. That is Council’s decision and nothing else. Education tax rates (set by the Province), water and wastewater charges (fees, not this tax), and MPAC revaluation (adjusted out by the reassessment adjustment factor in a reassessment year) do not move the decrement. Growth in the assessment roll from new construction needs no separate adjustment: new homes join the roll and lower the rate an existing home pays for a given levy, which is a real effect existing homeowners feel and which the rate correctly captures.

Inflation. An increase in the residential municipal tax rate at or below the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for Ontario adds nothing to the decrement. Only the increase above CPI accumulates. A decrease in the rate erodes the decrement, to a floor of zero. The decrement is uncapped, is applied multiplicatively on top of whatever sections 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 produce, and persists across every base-compensation reset and across terms of Council. The CPI allowance applies from the first fiscal year of application; this section contains no separate freeze period.

Version history is in CHANGELOG.md. A one-page worked example is in docs/constant-assessment-example.md. The full audit trail is in docs/.

Preamble

WHEREAS the Council of The Corporation of the City of London is authorized under section 5(3), section 8(1), section 8(2), section 9, and paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of subsection 10(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, to pass by-laws respecting the governance structure, the accountability and transparency, and the financial management of the municipality, including the remuneration of its elected officials;

AND WHEREAS City of London Council Policy “Remuneration for Elected Officials and Appointed Citizen Members Policy”, adopted by By-law No. CPOL.-70-302 (August 22, 2017) and amended by By-law No. CPOL.-70(a)-408 (July 24, 2018), By-law No. CPOL.-70(b)-220 (July 25, 2023), and By-law No. CPOL.-70(c)-189 (June 23, 2026) (the “Policy”), governs the remuneration of elected officials of the City of London, including the annual adjustment of base remuneration under section 4.2 of the Policy, the update of Councillor base compensation under section 4.3 of the Policy, and the additional compensation of the Deputy Mayor and Budget Chair under section 4.4 of the Policy;

AND WHEREAS in each fiscal year Council, by the annual rating by-law passed under subsection 312(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001, sets the rates of taxation for municipal purposes upon the assessment of property in the City of London, and the rate of taxation for municipal purposes applicable to the residential property class is the most direct decision through which Council determines the property tax burden borne by residential property taxpayers whose assessment has not changed;

AND WHEREAS the rates of taxation for education purposes are set by the Province of Ontario under the Education Act, the assessment of property is determined by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation under the Assessment Act, and fees and charges for water, wastewater and other services are not property taxes, none of which is a decision of Council to which the remuneration of elected officials ought to be tied;

AND WHEREAS the Council of The Corporation of the City of London considers it appropriate, in the interests of fiscal accountability, alignment between elected official remuneration and Council’s own property tax rate decisions, and the continued public confidence in the integrity of municipal compensation, to maintain a persistent record of the cumulative effect of Council’s residential municipal tax rate decisions, beyond the rate of inflation, on the remuneration of elected officials, applied multiplicatively on top of remuneration otherwise payable under the Policy;

AND WHEREAS the accumulated decrement established by this by-law is intended to operate asymmetrically and across terms of Council: an increase in the municipal property tax payable on a residential property whose assessment did not change, to the extent that increase exceeds the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, adds to the decrement; a decrease in that tax reduces the decrement, to not less than zero; the decrement never increases remuneration above what is otherwise payable under the Policy; and the decrement persists across all base-compensation reset events and across terms of Council unless this section is amended or repealed by Council through the same public by-law process as any amendment to the Policy;

AND WHEREAS clause 4(i) of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.50 provides that sections 5, 5.2 and 5.3 of that Act do not apply to a pecuniary interest in respect of an allowance, honorarium, remuneration, salary or benefit to which a member of council may be entitled by reason of being a member, so that every member of Council may lawfully consider and vote on this by-law;

AND WHEREAS this by-law does not affect the base compensation set or maintained by Council in any other resolution or by-law and does not affect Council’s authority to set the rates of taxation or the property tax levy, or to set or update base compensation, in any year;

THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF LONDON ENACTS as follows:

Enacting clauses

The provisions of the Policy are amended by adding a new section 4.5 in the form set out in clause 2 of this by-law. To the extent that any prior provision of section 4 of the Policy relating to annual adjustment, base compensation, or property tax linkage is inconsistent with the new section 4.5, the new section 4.5 prevails. For greater certainty, sections 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 of the Policy continue to operate according to their terms, and the new section 4.5 applies to their combined result as set out in subsection 4.5(c).
The new section 4.5 of the Policy is:

Section 4.5 – Permanent Decrement Tied to the Residential Municipal Tax Rate

4.5(a) Definitions. For the purpose of this section:

(i) “Annual rating by-law” means the by-law passed by Council in each fiscal year under subsection 312(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001 that sets the rates of taxation upon the assessment of the lands and premises in the City of London, including the rate of taxation for municipal purposes applicable to the residential property class.

(ii) “Residential property class” means the residential property class prescribed under the Assessment Act.

(iii) “Residential municipal tax rate” for a fiscal year means the rate of taxation for municipal purposes applicable to property in the residential property class that is taxable at the full rate, as set out in the annual rating by-law for that fiscal year, expressed as a percentage of assessment. For greater certainty, the residential municipal tax rate does not include any rate of taxation for education purposes under the Education Act, any rate for a special local municipality levy within the meaning of subsection 312(1) of the Municipal Act, 2001, or any fee or charge, and is not adjusted for any rebate, deferral, capping or clawback applicable to particular properties. Where the residential municipal tax rate for a fiscal year cannot be determined under this clause, the determination shall be made by the City Treasurer and documented in the records of the office of the City Clerk.

(iv) “Reassessment adjustment factor” for a fiscal year means the ratio, rounded to four decimal places, of (A) the total assessment for that fiscal year of all properties in the residential property class that were on the assessment roll of the City of London for both that fiscal year and the immediately preceding fiscal year, to (B) the total assessment of those same properties for the immediately preceding fiscal year, as those totals are determined by the City Treasurer from the assessment rolls as returned and revised for each of those years. In a fiscal year in which no general reassessment or phase-in of assessment under the Assessment Act changes the assessment of properties in the residential property class, the reassessment adjustment factor is 1. Where the City Treasurer cannot determine the factor from the assessment rolls, the factor is 1 plus the average percentage change in assessment for the residential property class for that fiscal year, expressed as a decimal fraction, as published by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation or by the City of London in connection with that reassessment or phase-in, and where no such figure is published, the factor is 1.

(v) “Constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage” for a fiscal year means the percentage change, between the immediately preceding fiscal year and that fiscal year, in the municipal property tax payable on a property in the residential property class whose assessment changed only by the reassessment adjustment factor for that fiscal year, calculated as (((the residential municipal tax rate for that fiscal year multiplied by the reassessment adjustment factor for that fiscal year) divided by the residential municipal tax rate for the immediately preceding fiscal year) minus 1) multiplied by 100, with the result rounded to two decimal places. The value may be positive (the municipal property tax on such a property increased), zero, or negative (the municipal property tax on such a property decreased). For greater certainty, in a fiscal year in which the reassessment adjustment factor is 1, the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage is the percentage change in the residential municipal tax rate itself, and is the percentage change in the municipal portion of the property tax bill of every property in the residential property class whose assessment did not change. Where the residential municipal tax rate for the immediately preceding fiscal year cannot be determined, the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage for that fiscal year is deemed to be zero.

(vi) “Accumulated decrement” means a non-negative percentage value, initially zero when this section first comes into force, that is updated each fiscal year as set out in subsection (b) of this section. The accumulated decrement is a persistent state variable maintained by the City Treasurer and is not reset by any resolution, by-law, or amendment of this Policy other than one that expressly repeals or amends this section 4.5.

(vii) “Remuneration” as used in this section means the base compensation of an elected official as set under this Policy, and any additional stipend or allowance paid to an elected official under this Policy as it may be amended from time to time, including without limitation the additional compensation paid to the Deputy Mayor and Budget Chair under section 4.4 of this Policy.

(viii) “Fiscal year” for the purposes of this section means the calendar year January 1 to December 31, being the City of London’s fiscal year within the meaning of section 285 of the Municipal Act, 2001.

(ix) “Elected official” means the Mayor of the City of London and every member of the Council of the City of London.

(x) “Consumer Price Index” or “CPI” means the All-items Consumer Price Index for Ontario, not seasonally adjusted, as published by Statistics Canada in Table 18-10-0004-01 (Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted) and, as an annual average, in Table 18-10-0005-01 (Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted), or in any successor table publishing the same series. This is the same series referred to in section 4.1 of this Policy. If Statistics Canada ceases to publish that series, or substantially changes its methodology such that it is no longer reasonably comparable to the series as published at the time this clause is enacted, the City Treasurer shall, until Council designates a comparable successor measure by a subsequent by-law, use the most comparable successor series published by Statistics Canada in its place, and shall note the substitution in the publication required under subsection (e).

(xi) “CPI percentage” for a fiscal year means the percentage change in the annual average of the CPI for the calendar year immediately preceding that fiscal year compared to the annual average of the CPI for the calendar year immediately preceding that one, rounded to two decimal places. Where the CPI percentage for a fiscal year cannot be determined by the time of the calculation required under subsection (e), the CPI percentage for that fiscal year is the CPI percentage most recently determined under this clause for a preceding fiscal year, and the City Treasurer shall note the substitution in the publication required under subsection (e).

(xii) “CPI allowance” for a fiscal year means the CPI percentage for that fiscal year or zero, whichever is greater.

(xiii) “Applicable change percentage” for a fiscal year means:

(A) if the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage for that fiscal year is zero or less than zero, that percentage; and

(B) if the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage for that fiscal year is greater than zero, the greater of zero and the amount by which that percentage exceeds the CPI allowance for that fiscal year.

For greater certainty: an increase in the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage that does not exceed the CPI allowance produces an applicable change percentage of zero; a decrease produces a negative applicable change percentage in the full amount of the decrease; and because the CPI allowance is never less than zero, a negative CPI percentage never causes the applicable change percentage to exceed the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage itself. This clause does not alter the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage as determined under clause (a)(v) for any purpose other than the calculation of the accumulated decrement under subsection (b), and that percentage, without adjustment under this clause, continues to be published under subsection (e).

4.5(b) Annual update of the accumulated decrement. For each fiscal year in which this section is in force, the accumulated decrement shall be updated as follows:

Updated accumulated decrement (in percentage points) = the greater of:

(i) zero, and

(ii) the previous fiscal year’s accumulated decrement plus the applicable change percentage for the current fiscal year, as determined under clause (a)(xiii).

The accumulated decrement shall not be less than zero in any fiscal year. There is no upper bound on the accumulated decrement.

4.5(c) Application to remuneration. For each fiscal year in which this section is in force, the remuneration payable to each City of London elected official shall be calculated as follows:

(i) first, compute the remuneration that would otherwise be payable under section 4.2, section 4.3, and section 4.4 of this Policy and under any resolution, by-law, or amendment governing base compensation, applying all annual adjustments under section 4.2, any update of base compensation under section 4.3, and any re-peg or reset of base compensation in force for that fiscal year, all without reference to the accumulated decrement and without including any reduction attributable to the accumulated decrement from prior or current fiscal years; and

(ii) then, multiply the result of step (i) by (1 minus the current accumulated decrement expressed as a decimal fraction).

The resulting amount is the final remuneration payable for that fiscal year. For greater certainty, the operation of sections 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 in any fiscal year is unaffected by the accumulated decrement under this section; those provisions produce their result independently, and the accumulated decrement is applied only at the point of computing the final remuneration payable. Where the accumulated decrement equals or exceeds 100, the final remuneration payable for that fiscal year is zero.

4.5(d) Persistence across re-peg events. The accumulated decrement persists across, and continues to be applied after, any resolution, by-law, or amendment that establishes, resets, updates, or otherwise modifies the base compensation of City of London elected officials, including without limitation the update of Councillor base compensation directed by section 4.3 of this Policy and by Council resolution 2025-C06 clause (d) (November 4, 2025), and any subsequent periodic re-peg under similar provisions or resolutions. Any such re-peg or update modifies the input to step (i) of subsection (c) of this section for the affected fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years; the accumulated decrement continues to be applied in step (ii) on each such re-pegged value.

4.5(e) Calculation and publication by Treasurer. The City Treasurer shall:

(i) calculate, for each fiscal year in which this section is in force, the residential municipal tax rate for that fiscal year and for the immediately preceding fiscal year, the reassessment adjustment factor, the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage, the CPI percentage, the CPI allowance, the applicable change percentage, and the accumulated decrement,

(ii) maintain a record of these values in the records of the office of the City Clerk,

(iii) include, for the current fiscal year, the residential municipal tax rate for that fiscal year and for the immediately preceding fiscal year, the reassessment adjustment factor and whether a general reassessment or phase-in applied to the residential property class in that fiscal year, the constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage, the CPI percentage, the CPI allowance, the applicable change percentage, the accumulated decrement, and the final remuneration payable for the Mayor and Councillors, in the City’s published annual budget documents and in any annual remuneration disclosure required by law,

(iv) where the annual rating by-law for a fiscal year has not been adopted before the first remuneration payment date in that fiscal year, use the previous fiscal year’s accumulated decrement for interim remuneration calculations and reconcile any difference in the first remuneration payment following adoption of the annual rating by-law, and

(v) without limiting subsection (iv), where any calculation under subsection (i), maintenance of records under subsection (ii), or publication under subsection (iii) has not been completed before the date on which the relevant annual rating by-law is adopted, perform the calculation, recording, or publication as soon as practicable and in any event no later than 60 days after the end of the relevant fiscal year, and apply the resulting accumulated decrement retroactively to the remuneration for the relevant fiscal year, with any over- or under-payment reconciled in the next remuneration payment period following the calculation, and the City may recover any overpayment by deduction from one or more subsequent remuneration payments to the affected elected official or as a debt due to the City.

The duties in this subsection are automatic and self-executing upon this section coming into force and do not require further direction or authorization of Council in any fiscal year.

4.5(f) First year of application. This section first applies to the remuneration payable for the first fiscal year that begins on or after the date this by-law comes into force. The constant-assessment municipal tax change percentage for that fiscal year is determined under clause (a)(v) of this section, comparing the residential municipal tax rate for that fiscal year to the residential municipal tax rate for the immediately preceding fiscal year. The previous fiscal year’s accumulated decrement for the purpose of subsection (b) is zero in the first fiscal year of application.

4.5(g) For Greater Certainty. This section does not alter the base compensation of any elected official as set or maintained by Council under any other provision of this Policy or under any other resolution or by-law, does not restrict or alter Council’s authority to set the rates of taxation or the property tax levy in any year, and does not restrict or alter Council’s authority to set or update the base compensation. This section operates by maintaining and applying a separate accumulated decrement to the remuneration otherwise payable, and that decrement applies regardless of the value of any base compensation set by Council. Council’s authority to amend or repeal this section is not restricted, but any such amendment or repeal must be done through a properly-passed by-law and is subject to the same public process as any amendment to this Policy.

4.5(h) Internal Priority. If there is any conflict between this section and any other provision of this Policy, this section prevails to the extent of the conflict. For greater certainty, this subsection applies only to interpretation conflicts within section 4 of this Policy relating to annual adjustment, base compensation, and property tax linkage, and nothing in this section prevents sections 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 of this Policy from operating according to their terms in the computation under step (i) of subsection (c) of this section.

4.5(i) Rounding. All percentage and percentage-point calculations under this section shall be rounded to two decimal places at each computational step, except the reassessment adjustment factor, which shall be rounded to four decimal places.

4.5(j) PACT Savings: calculation and presentation. In addition to the duties in subsection (e), the City Treasurer shall:

(i) calculate, for each fiscal year in which this section is in force, the total dollar amount by which remuneration for the Mayor and all Councillors, in aggregate, is reduced under subsection (c) of this section relative to the amount that would otherwise have been payable absent the accumulated decrement (the “PACT Savings”),

(ii) maintain a record of the PACT Savings for each fiscal year in the records of the office of the City Clerk, and

(iii) present the PACT Savings for the current fiscal year, identified by that name and as a distinct line item, in the City’s published annual budget documents for the following fiscal year, as an amount available for Council’s consideration as a surplus carried forward under subsection 290(4) of the Municipal Act, 2001 against the property tax levy for that following fiscal year.

For greater certainty, this subsection creates a duty to calculate and present the PACT Savings only, and does not require, direct, or restrict any particular use of that amount by Council in any budget or rating by-law; subsection (g) of this section applies without modification to this subsection.

Coming Into Force

This by-law shall come into force and effect on the day of its passage.

A pilot for direct democracy

The drafting of this bylaw was conducted in public. The full text, every parameter, every section of prose, and the record of every suggested change, accepted or rejected, are available on GitHub.

This is a pilot. If elected, I commit to using the same public-drafting process for every substantive motion I bring forward during my term of office. Direct democracy doesn’t replace representative democracy. It makes sure your councillor knows where you stand on every issue, not just at election time.

Read the full pilot commitment →