Regional district reveals salaries

By Ron Seymour Kelowna Daily Courier Posted: Thursday, July 3, 2014 4:45 pm | Updated: 10:22 pm, Thu Jul 3, 2014.

http://www.regionaldistrict.com/media/125525/2013_
Financial_Disclosure_Schedules.pdf

Longtime Kelowna politician Robert Hobson logged more miles on the road last year than he did in 2012.  As a result, his compensation for being chairman of the Central Okanagan Regional District board rose eight per cent, to $41,447 from $38,154. “He drove more business kilometres in 2013 than in 2012, which accounted for the difference in figures,” regional district spokesman Bruce Smith said Thursday. Hobson, who has been in local office since 1988, also drew a salary of $30,000 for his work as a City of Kelowna councillor. As with all elected local officials in B.C., one-third of Hobson’s two salaries is tax free. The regional district has now complied with provincial requirements to publicly release salary and expense information of elected officials, as well as the names of all staff earning more than $75,000. All B.C. municipalities are supposed to release that information by the end of June, but the regional district missed the deadline. There are 12 members of the regional board, with Hobson’s salary almost double the next-highest paid director, Patty Hanson of Okanagan East, whose remuneration last year was $19,691. Pay for the other directors, who represent the municipalities of Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and Peachland, average about $15,000, or little changed from 2012. Last year, there were 30 regional district employees who made more than $75,000, up from 27 in 2012. The highest-paid staffer was finance director Marilyn Rilkoff at $148,000, up from the $138,000 she earned in 2012. Chief administrative officer Brian Reardon, who assumed his position in April, was paid $115,000.
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