Payroll swells at City Hall

Ron Seymour 2009-06-25 Kelowna Daily Courier:

Salaries for senior managers at Kelowna City Hall rose an average of 6.5 per cent last year, newly released financial statements show. As well, the total number of city employees who earn more than $75,000 annually has nearly quadrupled in the past six years, from 41 in 2002 to 153 last year. “We have to be competitive with what other municipalities pay their staff,” Mayor Sharon Shepherd said Wednesday. “We‘re a growing city, and we need to attract good people and retain the expertise we have.” Top earner last year was city manager Ron Mattiussi, whose salary rose 12.6 per cent, to $250,520. The highest pay raise went to David Graham, the director of strategic initiatives, whose pay went up 13.7 per cent, to $176,000. Total pay for all city employees – union workers and managers – was $49.2 million, up 10 per cent from 2007. The increase reflects both pay raises for individual employees as well as the addition of new staff.

Salaries for the highest-paid managers at City Hall have risen about 45 per cent, on average, between 2002 and 2008. During the same period, average household income in the Central Okanagan rose 34 per cent, from $50,000 to $67,000, according to Invest Kelowna. However, in the past two years, median employment income in Kelowna has stagnated at about $26,600, Invest Kelowna says. Maureen Bader of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said the increases granted to City of Kelowna employees are typical of other municipalities. “Right across the province, there‘s been a real spiralling out of control of municipal salaries,” Bader said. “In the private sector, if a firm‘s costs go out of control, the firm goes out of business. “But of course the government never goes out of business. It just raises your taxes,” she said.

Salaries and job responsibilities for senior city managers are reviewed by a consultancy, Hay Group, which compares their workload and pay with those of bureaucrats holding similar positions in comparably sized cities. The consultant then makes recommendation regarding pay increases for senior officials to city councillors. “Every year, council has that information put in front of it, and the majority have agreed to the recommended increases,” Shepherd said. Salaries for top city managers are lower than those paid to people who do similar jobs in organizations such as UBC, WorkSafe B.C., B.C. Hydro and provincial health authorities, Shepherd said.

By provincial law, all B.C. municipalities must publish the names and salaries of every employee making $75,000 or more annually. The threshold for publication used to be $50,000. The city is the third largest employer in Kelowna, after Interior Health and the school district, with about 800 staff.