Coldstream financially comfortable

By Jennifer Smith - Vernon Morning Star - June 26, 2008

Even with a $4 million debt for new firehalls, Coldstream is sitting pretty financially, according to the books for 2007. “We’re sitting pretty good, really, compared to a lot of other municipalities,” said Catherine Lord, director of financial administration. While debt capacity is $19 million, Coldstream’s long-term debt is sitting at $4.2 million. Lord presented the annual financial report for 2007 at Monday’s council meeting, where she highlighted some of the projects, priorities and development. While the entire report was available to the public, one key aspect was missing during the public process, said Gyula Kiss, Coldstream Ratepayers Association president. “Once a year I think the whole citizenry should be able to ask questions of the auditor,” said Kiss, as an auditor was not available at the meeting. An audit was performed and the report is available, but typically the auditor has been present at such meetings. Following the auditor’s report, which found the financial statements to be presented fairly, council agreed there was not a need for the auditor to attend. Annual audits are performed, and recently an additional audit was performed on Coldstream.

The special audit, which Kiss had requested, related to sewer extensions. He disagrees with how funds were collected and used to fund sewer extensions. That audit cost taxpayers $9,424. The 2007 financial audit cost $10,568 while the 2006 audit cost $8,172. The sewer extension audit concluded that Coldstream acted within its authority. Lord explains that Coldstream’s policy is to save and build up some funds for projects, rather than carry an entire project’s cost in debt. But Kiss does not agree with that theory. He says the existing sewer users shouldn’t have paid for previous sewer extensions and shouldn’t be squeezed for any future sewer extensions either. “I don’t think the sewer users should be treated as a bank,” said Gyula. Aside from its sewer woes, 2007 was a productive year in Coldstream. “A lot of development was happening in 2007,” said Lord, pointing to such developments as the Inverness/Aberdeen Village of 73 residences. Capital projects included aeration of the Kalavista Lagoon to improve odours and upgrades to both the Kinloch and Lisheen lift stations. A major road condition review was also launched to create a plan on when to repair or refurbish roads.

Salaries Over $75,000 INTERIOR HEALTH

In the fiscal year ended March 31^st 2007, Interior Health employed approximately 17-thousand people. Of those, 1,519 people earned in excess of $75,000.

Among those 1,519 people, the following delineation occurs:

• 911 are nurses (mainly members of the British Columbia Nurses’ Union)
• 381 are non-contract staff and physicians (excluded from union membership)
• 202 are paramedicals (mainly members of the Health Sciences Association of BC)
• 25 are members of other bargaining units

“Remuneration” includes base salary, retroactive pay, taxable benefits, payments of prior years' and/or current year's vacation payouts and retiring allowances paid in accordance with union and non-contract agreements.

“Travel and Expenses” includes travel, conferences and membership in professional association

Link to: Salaries >$75,000 Attachment 7a

$100,000 club grows by half at City Hall

Ron Seymour Kelowna Courier June 23
The number of City of Kelowna employees earning more than $100,000 rose by half last year. And salary increases for senior managers averaged about 10 per cent, newly-released financial statements show. “Council recognizes that to keep staff and maintain the expertise that we do have, we have to pay people accordingly,” Mayor Sharon Shepherd said Friday. In 2006, 20 city employees were paid more than $100,000. Last year, according to financial statements to be presented at today‘s council meeting, that number rose to 29. The highest paid municipal employee was city manager Ron Mattiussi, who earned $222,000, up from $170,000 in 2006, an increase of 31 per cent. But Mattiussi became city manager midway through 2006, after the retirement of Ron Born, so part of his salary for that year reflected his lower position as planning director. The next highest-paid employee was finance director Paul Macklem, who earned $163,000, up from $140,000 in 2006, an increase of 16 per cent. For part of 2007, however, Macklem was also in charge of the planning department.

Among a dozen senior city employees whose responsibilities were broadly similar in 2006 and 2007, most saw a pay rise of about 10 per cent. Some typical examples: recreation director David Graham had an 11 per cent raise, from $140,000 to $155,000; airport manager Roger Sellick saw a nine per cent pay bump, from $124,000 to $135,000; environment manager Mark Watt had an 11 per cent increase in salary, from $91,000 to $101,000; transportation manager Ron Westlake got a nine per cent increase, from $110,000 to $120,000, and parks manager Joe Creron saw his pay rise 13 per cent, from $102,000 to $115,000. By provincial law, B.C. municipalities must publish the names and salaries of all employees earning more than $75,000. Of the 29 City of Kelowna employees who made more than $100,000 last year, only two were women.

Salaries and job responsibilities for senior city managers are reviewed by a consultant, Hay Group, that compares their workload and pay with those of bureaucrats holding similar positions in other cities. The consultant then makes recommendations regarding pay increases for senior officials to city councillors. “We‘re provided with information about how similar positions are paid throughout the province, and we use that to help us make our decisions,” Shepherd said. “We try to keep our staff committed to this city.” From April 2007 to April 2008, the average wage for a typical British Columbia worker rose 1.5 per cent in constant dollars, according to B.C. Statistics.
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Don Quixote Note: Kelowna Stats can be found at Item 8.6 - 2007 Annual Financial Report.pdf (15279kb) (2008-06-20)

EMPLOYEE REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES (p.4-7)
COUNCIL REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES, (p.1)

Council Objectives and Outcomes 2007, 2008 and 2009

Although the Annual Report is not available online as yet you can pick up the revised copy containing the 2008 and 2009 Objectives at the front desk. Copies wil also be available at the Public Input session at 5:30 on Monday June. 23. For your convenience and the historical record these two pages are posted here.

Kelowna's Annual Report

Item 8.6 - 2007 Annual Financial Report.pdf (15279kb) (2008-06-20)

EMPLOYEE REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES (p.4-7)
COUNCIL REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES, (p.1)
AND PAYMENT FOR PROVISION OF GOODS OR SERVICES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007
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Don Quixote Note:
The remuneration of the Kelowna and Vernon Councils are presented for comparison. The yet to be selected Council Remuneration Committee may find them of some interest. (the 1/3 non taxable portion is not separated in the Vernon presentation.)

The stipend drawn by various Kelowna Council members at CORD will be compared at a future posting when CORD's figures are published.

Public Input on Annual Report Monday at 5:30

Once again on Monday Night the taxpayer has the opportunity to review and comment upon the workings of this council in 2007.

• Usually the past goal and objectives of the council are presented and graded as to result and the 2008 and 2009 goals and objectives are presented .
  
• Financial statements are contained in this report as well as departmental summaries.
  
• Statements of salaries paid both for senior administration and the Council and their total expenses for the year are part of this scintillating report.
  
• Payments <$25,000 to all vendors used by the City as well as property tax exemptions for Churches, social services and cultural entities might tickle your fancy.
• Statistical section containing graphs and charts comparing data between 1991 all the way to 2007 might interest you.
• Mayor's message and pictures of Council members as well as The Senior Management Team may prove to be a priceless keepsake.

Reports are available at the front desk at City Hall and will be handed out at the meeting at 5;30 on Monday. In anticipation of the usual apathy of the Vernon Taxpayer towards City Hall and the anticipated crowd size there will only be the traditional 15 copies printed up and so you can expect the EBAY price of this rare document only to increase in value.

By the numbers

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - June 17, 2008

It's that time of the year when all municipalities and regional districts are mandated to publish annual reports. Unless you are a bean counter, the documents are pretty dry reading. But deep within these reports is some information that should make everyone take notice, and that is the schedule of remuneration for both elected officials and civic employees. It allows you to see exactly what bureaucrats are being paid, and how much politicians are pocketing while representing your interests. But perhaps the most interesting aspect is to look at jurisdictions and to see how neighbours compare. Here are some of the highlights of the 2007 annual reports:

• The City of Vernon paid out $13.8 million in wages, $56,850 in allowances and $153,941 in expenses to 248 full and 50 part-time employees, while the North Okanagan Regional District had $4.9 million in wages and $173,446 in expenses for 86 full and 304 part-time staff.
• Vernon had two employees make more than $100,000, while NORD had six (including severance for former administrator Barry Gagnon). It should be pointed out that Coldstream — which is significantly smaller than Vernon and NORD — had two staff that earned more than $100,000 in 2007.
• In Vernon, chief administrative officer Leon Gous had a salary of $124,368, allowances of $4,528 and expenses of $8,119, for a total of $137,015. Over at NORD, administrator Brian Reardon had a salary of $153,681 and expenses of $11,141, for a total of $164,822.
• Wayne Lippert, mayor of Vernon's 35,944 people, wracked up $3,653 in expenses in 2007, about half of the $6,720 in expenses for Coun. Glen Taylor and Coun. Mary Malerby, $6,705, both from Coldstream (population 9,471). Expenses for NORD are a little more complicated because some directors not only represent their individual constituency, but attend meetings on behalf of the district as a whole. Leading the pack in 2007 was $6,989 for Herman Halvorson, director for rural Enderby (population 4,091).
• It is interesting to note that in Vernon, all four council members elected in 2005 (Lippert, Buffy Baumbrough, Juliette Cunningham and Jack Gilroy) filed for expenses while the three longtime councillors (Barry Beardsell, Pat Cochrane and Patrick Nicol) didn't submit for any expenditures.

Obviously figures can be interpreted any way you want, but some questions arise. How is it that two councillors from a community the size of Coldstream can have double the expenses of the mayor of the much-larger Vernon? If these two councillors are attending conferences, are these trips resulting in policy changes or increased government funding in Coldstream? Why didn't the city's four veteran councillors have any expenses? Are they not attending conferences, which are often a good source of information on critical issues, whether it is affordable housing, poverty or new infrastructure? Are the four newbies too vigorous about heading out of town?

Is there a reason why NORD's senior administrators are paid significantly more than those just a few miles away at Vernon city hall? And while the administrative sector requires wages of a certain level if you want to attract and retain skilled individuals, is there a problem with such high salaries when many residents — who pay the bill through taxes — are struggling to put food on the table or are being handed pink slips? I don't have the answers to these questions, and am loath to make assumptions without having all of the facts in front of me, but it's amazing what you can find in an annual report.

Council expenses ‘reasonable’

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - June 17, 2008

Lumby’s mayor doesn’t anticipate taxpayers being upset over how council spent money last year. The village’s 2007 annual report includes remuneration and expenses for all five members of council. “They were very reasonable,” said Mayor Eric Foster. Foster had expenses of $6,283 last year, and he says that is a result of attending conferences, as well as a phone and vehicle allowance. “You run a vehicle and it costs a lot these days,” he said. Among the conferences Foster attended was the Union of B.C. Municipalities, and he insists such venues are an important way to meet with provincial government officials and lobby for funding for infrastructure projects. “If you’re not there, you don’t get anything,” he said. Leading the councillors in expenses was Deb Leroux who had expenditures of $5,668. “I go to a lot of functions and workshops because I believe in education. There is value for my community in everything I learn,” she said. “There is a lot of value in networking with other communities. There is tons of knowledge out there from the experiences other people have gained in their communities.” Matt McLenehan had expenses of $43 while it was $5,727 for Elinor Turrill and $1,017 for Ben Winters. All councillors collected a base salary of $5,727 in 2007, while Foster earned $10,934 for his duties as mayor. Municipalities, each year, must also detail remuneration and expenses for all employees, and individually identify those earning more than $75,000. The village only has one employee making more than that and that is chief administrator Frank Kosa at $78,585. He also had expenses of $4,761. A total of $787,406 was spent on employment income last year, while there was $12,796 in expenses for all staff.

Annual Reports

I
In the Morning Star June 15 Coldstream has advertised that their annual report will be presented Monday June 23. Although this is not the required 14 days as required by the Community Charter thee might have been an earlier ad that I missed. Their Annual Report is available on their Website and at City Hall. It will contain all the usual goodies including their goals and objectives for 2008 and 2009.

Vernon did pass a resolution that their public input for their annual meeting would be on the 23rd at night after another public hearing and copies of their annual report (sans objectives for 2008 and 2009 ) are available at front desk at City Hall. The full report is still not online.

Backyard scuttlebutt is that the 2008 and 2009 objectives will be prepared for Council's approval at the Council meeting of the 23rd (probably the COW meeting in the morning) and introduced as an addendum to the already published Annual Report. This is a fair compromise as to date less than 3 people have picked up an Annual Report and as attendance at the input session rarely gets into the area where Rolke has to take off a sock it doesn't seem to matter. Its either that or wait another 2 weeks until mid July for public input.

I have included the Mayor's message as an inspiration for you to pick up a report and make your opinion known. This is a review of the year 2007 as seen by the Council and administration and should be judged for its historical correctness. The 2008 and 2009 addendum is a statement of the future vision of this Council and it should be used as an operational template for the next couple years.

Coldstream Salaries for Staff and Council

The 2007 Annual Financial Report (2.45MB PDF) for the District of Coldstream is now available to interested members of the public. This report includes the audited Financial Statements for 2007, a progress report on 2007, goals and objectives for 2008 and 2009, and a number of other financial reports.

The reports on this posting are:

• the 2007 Coldstream staff Salaries >$75,000 and the Political Salaries of Coldstream Council.
• the 2006 Coldstream staff Salaries >$75,000 and the Political Salaries of Coldstream Council.
• the 2007 NORD Political Salaries so you can add up what extra each Coldstream Council member picked up for their duties at NORD.

Rising salaries draw concern

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - June 11, 2008

A veteran Vernon politician believes city hall salaries are getting out of hand. The city’s 2007 annual report shows that 250 employees received $13.8 million in wages last year, as well as $56,850 in allowances and $153,941 in expenses. “I don’t have concerns about the individuals involved because we have good staff. But I have concerns about the direction of local government,” said Coun. Barry Beardsell. Beardsell says that from the previous council in 2005 to the current council, wages and expenses for employees have increased 20 per cent through the hiring of more staff or rate increases. “When you try and talk about it, everyone jumps to the defense. There is a limit to what the taxpayer can afford,” he said. Mayor Wayne Lippert, though, defends employee remuneration. “The market is calling for that to get employees with capabilities into those positions,” he said, adding that city salaries have been reviewed compared to other communities. “We’re not at the top. We’re at the low-middle end of things.” Lippert points out that the city has lost some staff and wages must keep pace to retain them.

“These people spent time getting educated for their jobs. We need to have good people.” Lippert acknowledges that staff positions are funded by taxpayers’ dollars, but he says that there is a need for employees to provide services residents require or demand. According to the 2007 annual report, there were 27 employees that earned more than $75,000 for a total of $2.2 million. Collectively, they had allowances of $39,094 and expenses of $71,559. Topping the list was Leon Gous, chief administrative officer, with a salary of $124,368. He had allowances of $4,528 and expenses of $8,119. In second place was Marg Bailey, deputy chief administrative officer, with a wage of $106,729, no allowances and $5,545 in expenses. The 2007 annual report also highlights fees the city paid to various businesses and jurisdictions for services.Among them was $75,231 for Black Press, which owns The Morning Star.

A snapshot of Salaries at City of Vernon 2005-2007.

Year over Year Increase In Earnings:

• 2007 12.487%
• 2006 6.857%

These total figures are from the Annual Reports for the last 3 years.
(Note that in 2005 that allowances and expenses were combined but are separated out for 2006 and 2007.) (The first row of numbers is for those employees that are making greater than $75,000 while the second row is for all other employees. )

Earnings increases are not necessarily because of wage or salary increases but also reflect service levels adjustment. It would be more constructive if man years by type of employee (union or exempt, administration etc.) but this is not required by the community charter and is not published by the City.
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Don Quixote Note: Blogreader asked for NORD Figures:(salaries compared only not expenses)

Nord Salaries for 2006 with a 2005 figure can be found at http://vernonblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/2006-nord-staff-remuneration-75000.html

Nord Salaries for 2007 can be found at http://vernonblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/nord-salaries-and-expenses-released.html

2007 year over year 15.8%
2006 year over year 11.5%

Annual Report to be approved Monday ?

The Annual Report will be available to be picked up and will be posted online at the City's website after approval is given on Monday. It can be found in the Agenda Package - 18.9MB at pages 119-197.

There may however be a slight problem with this report if it is actually produced for the public in the form that it presently has been shown in the Package. The community Charter does spell out both the deadline and the requirements of what MUST be in the report.

(2) The annual report must include the following:
(f) a statement of municipal objectives, and the measures that will be used to determine progress respecting those objectives, for the current and next year;

There are objectives and their results for 2007 in this report (P.47) but there are no Municipal Objectives for either 2008 or 2009. I can not remember the Council discussing in open session the municipal objectives and goals for either this year or 2009 and unless this was done in a DARKSIDE Meeting and these objectives will be presented as a supplement then there may have to be a deferral of the approval of this Report until that debate occurs.

Don Quixote Note: A quick scan of the report produced a few oddities and discrepancies but I will wait for the published ready for prime time hard copy version to do a comprehensive review for the public input meeting to be scheduled tentatively for June 23. But these 2 were too obvious not to be shared and hopefully corrected.

• There also is either some hyperbole from the Mayor or understating of revenue from the finance department in the 2008 budget when he states than the Sparkling Hills Resort building permit brought in $500,000 alone while the finance department added $361,014 to their budget for the Krystall Resort B.P.
• There are also a couple of footnotes to the financial statements that may be misleading with regards to the Airport Corporation and the Vernon Land Corporation. Apparently the auditors were under the impression that these Corporations were dissolved on Jan 1, 2007. They then state that in 2007 two new City Owned Corporations were created -The Hesperia Development Corporation and the Captain Bailey Way Development Corporation. I have been assured by reliable sources at the City that these two corporations came about from a name change from their predecessor companies namely the Airport Corp and The Vernon Land Corps. As the Financial statements are a historical and legal document the Auditors may have to clarify this footnote.

Vernon Council and Staff Remuneration for 2007 available at City's website.

These two schedules for Council Remuneration for 2007 and staff remuneration greater than $75,000 for 2007 are contained in the 2007 Annual Report that will be released after approval on Monday June 9 at the Council Meeting.

It can be found in the Agenda Package - 18.9MB at pages 119-197.

For comparison you can find Nord Salaries for 2007 and a link to 2006 Nord Salaries at NORD Salaries and expenses released yesterday



I have reposted the Nord Political Salaries so you can add the totals that our local Council drew from each place.

The 2006 list of Vernon's Council remuneration and staff remuneration greater than $75,000 can be found at: 2006 VERNON ANNUAL REPORT

CLICK ON any of the images to enlarge.