Between the city council ‘wish-list,’ capital projects and other departmental budgets, Bill 148 could be a big factor in how the city balances out in 2018.

Bill 148 is the “Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act,” better known as the bill that will see minimum wage in Ontario rise to $14 an hour by January and to $15 by 2019.

And Tuesday night, Timmins city council learned that it will cost the city an additional $140,318 in 2018.

Of note, $53,854 is for the Summer Student Program and another $46,339 is for equal pay with comparable full-time employees.

Director of Human Resources Rock Foy says they’ve taken a “worst-case scenario” approach in putting figures together to ensure everything is covered.

“We’re hoping that the dollar value will be a little bit less, but we wanted to make sure that we had enough in the 2018 budget to carry the worst-case scenario.”

You factor in 2019, and the cost goes up even further…but not as significant.

In 2019, the rise to $15 an hour will see the city spend an additional $56,507 overall.

At the moment, the city is working between 1.81 per cent and 2.02 per cent expenditure increase for 2018 with lots more to be decided.

CLICK HERE to see the full report presented to council.

CLICK HERE to view the video, under Item 3F.

Filed under: Local News