Kelowna's mayor says its citizens are getting a good bang for their buck in terms of staff salaries. Sharon Shepherd made the comments as City Council gets ready to accept the city's 2009 Annual Report on salaries and expenditures. The report which will be tabled Monday shows staff salaries reached $54.1 million in 2009, an increase of 10% over 2008 staff salaries of $49.2 million. "Our city has a staff of over 800," says Shepherd.
"Things have slowed down in the economy and we have had to hold the line on staff vacancies. We have been working with less people when times are tough." Shepherd says the were no management salary increases in 2009 and there will be none in 2010. She says several salaries went up in 2009 after increases were agreed to late in 2008. The mayor adds that union negotiated contracts for firefighters and CUPE employees also increased significantly because of contracts negotiated several years ago.
The city is currently into negotiations with CUPE on a new contract. Negotiations with firefighters will begin after the CUPE deal is hammered out.
The city is obligated through the municipal act to publicly report all salaries over $75,000. The number of staff earning $75,000 or more reached 209 in 2009, up from 153 the previous year. That number includes 93 members of the Kelowna Fire Department. "Any firefighter who works over four years will make over $75,000 and that's a fact," adds Shepherd. "That was part of the collectively bargained agreement." A portion of the salaries for Kelowna firefighters represents overtime as a result of wildfires in West Kelowna. Those monies will be reimbursed by the Provincial Emergency Program.
Once again, City Manager, Ron Mattiussi is at the top of the pay scale, earning $254,904 in 2009.
The rest of the top 10 salaries includes:
Community Services General Manager John Vos - $189,232
Strategic Initiatives Director David Graham - $188,726
Corporate Sustainability General Manager Paul Macklem - $188,557
Corporate Development Director Rick Baker - $163,023
Community Sustainability General Manager Jim Patterson - $162,332
Fire Chief Rene Blanleil - $139,933
Airport Director Sam Samaddar - $138,111
Human Resources Director Charlene Covington - $137,374
Civic Operations Director Joe Creron - $133,562
"We are a major corporation and we manage millions of dollar every year. We require scrutiny and have high expectations from our citizens," says Shepherd. "We have a new management structure which is working very well, we have good people and we have to pay those people well."
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"Things have slowed down in the economy and we have had to hold the line on staff vacancies. We have been working with less people when times are tough." Shepherd says the were no management salary increases in 2009 and there will be none in 2010. She says several salaries went up in 2009 after increases were agreed to late in 2008. The mayor adds that union negotiated contracts for firefighters and CUPE employees also increased significantly because of contracts negotiated several years ago.The city is currently into negotiations with CUPE on a new contract. Negotiations with firefighters will begin after the CUPE deal is hammered out.
The city is obligated through the municipal act to publicly report all salaries over $75,000. The number of staff earning $75,000 or more reached 209 in 2009, up from 153 the previous year. That number includes 93 members of the Kelowna Fire Department. "Any firefighter who works over four years will make over $75,000 and that's a fact," adds Shepherd. "That was part of the collectively bargained agreement." A portion of the salaries for Kelowna firefighters represents overtime as a result of wildfires in West Kelowna. Those monies will be reimbursed by the Provincial Emergency Program.
Once again, City Manager, Ron Mattiussi is at the top of the pay scale, earning $254,904 in 2009.
The rest of the top 10 salaries includes:
"We are a major corporation and we manage millions of dollar every year. We require scrutiny and have high expectations from our citizens," says Shepherd. "We have a new management structure which is working very well, we have good people and we have to pay those people well."
Full List at
Item 7.02 - 2009 Annual Report.pdf (1521kb) (2010-06-25) To view a full copy of the 2009 Annual report, please copy and paste the following link into your browser:
http://www.kelowna.ca/CityPage/Docs/PDFs//Communications/2009_AnnualReport.pdf
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http://www.chbcnews.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=_qFeNcvVUZJqBEV2UN2BOojJxl2Kf_sX
2 comments:
Absurd-people tend to forget all the side benefits like the fancy pension plan that the poor taxpayer also supports in a major way. When will we see a politician that is honest about the excessive salaries and benefits? Not likely-most would be concerned that the beaurocrat might leak something to the media and stab the politician in the back
There should be no wages increases in the Public sector, unless the Private sector unemployment rate is 5% or less!
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