As candidates ramp up their campaigns for the final two months of the 2026 municipal election, some are publicly questioning a pay boost scheduled to begin in November. In 2025, council voted 9-6 in favour of a 35 per cent increase to the base pay of a city councillor next term, raising the amount from $69,783 to $94,222. If elected, Ward 12 candidate Ribal Zebian says he would direct the additional money towards a series of scholarships for local post-secondary and trade school students. On Monday, he signed a document committing to redirect the pay raise to fund the Ribal Zebian Future Innovation Scholarship. “I don’t believe it was justified. I believe it’s completely unfair,” Zebian says about the pay increase. “Usually with a pay increase, especially one that large, you have to be performing at very, very high percentile.” Meanwhile, Ward 3 candidate Zak Rahim told CTV News that he’s hearing from voters about the pay increase while canvassing door-to-door in northeast London. “I’ve heard loud and clear from Londoners that this is really unearned. And it’s not fair that a councillor’s pay is now moving to the 70 percentile of what Londoners make,” he explained. Rahim suggests the next council should consider what to do about the raise. “I think we have to work with the councillors elected on the next council, do a review,” he added. Only minutes after filing her nomination papers last week, former Coun. Denise Brown stated what she would do with the pay raise, “That 35% increase they gave themselves, that’s going to go back to local charities, my share of it minus the taxes.” Increasing the base pay of councillors was among a long list of recommendations made by the Council Resourcing Review Task Force. The intent was to send a signal to future councillors that the role should be considered a full-time commitment. Council agreed with the recommendation to set councillor base pay at the 70th percentile of full-time individual income in London, moving up from the current 50th percentile. Voting in favour were Mayor Morgan, Deputy Mayor Lewis, Budget Chair Peloza, Coun. McAlister, Coun. Pribil, Coun. Franke, Coun. Cuddy, Coun. Hillier, and Coun. Lehman. Zebian, an engineering student at Western University says he doesn’t require a raise to make a full-time commitment to constituents. “I would be putting engineering on the side if elected, to put my strongest effort forward to council,” he explains. Election Day is October 26.
