RDNO saves on employee payroll

by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Jun 17, 2015 at 1:00 AM
The amount of payroll has shrunk at the Regional District of North Okanagan. There were 30 employees paid more than $75,000 in 2014. That is down from 34 in 2013. Total payroll for RDNO was $5.82 million in 2014, down from $6.2 million the year before. There was also $433,996 in expenses in 2014. “It’s way down and we set out to do that when we were organizing staff and the organization,” said Rick Fairbairn, chairperson. The top paid employee was chief administrative officer David Sewell with a salary of $146,469 and expenses of $5,780. Others on the list include Leah Mellot, electoral area services general manager, with a wage of $140,039 and expenses of $9,966, and Dale McTaggart, engineering general manager, with remuneration of $135,714 and expenses of $1,389. RDNO’s 2014 annual report also indicates that $299,153 was paid out to directors, alternate directors and committee members, while there was $29,887 in expenses. Rural Lumby’s Fairbairn, who was chairperson last year, had a salary of $40,138 and expenses of $6,494. Mike Macnabb, BX-Silver Star director, earned $25,569. “It’s somewhat around minimum wage when you add up the hours,” said Macnabb, adding that elected duties take away from his job as an engineer. However, Macnabb insists people don’t get into politics for the money. “The board reps are pretty committed and do an awful lot of work.” Macnabb had $5,492 in expenses, including attendance at provincial and regional conferences. “There were also trips to Kelowna for Okanagan Regional Library. There’s a lot of travel involved.” Bob Fleming, BX-Swan Lake director, had remuneration of $25,420 and expenses of $4,439 while retired Cherryville director Eugene Foisy had a salary of $20,993 and $2,271 in expenses. Jackie Pearase, who was not re-elected as rural Enderby director, had a salary of $21,577 and expenses of $7,031 in 2014. “The majority of that (expenses) was related to mileage. It’s a long drive from Area F to the regional district office and once a month I was to Kamloops (for Fraser Basin Council),” she said. For those electoral area directors elected in November, Cherryville’s Hank Cameron had remuneration of $1,350 and expenses of $230, and there was a salary of $1,350 and expenses of $205 for rural Enderby’s Herman Halvorson. Remuneration and expenses were also paid out to directors appointed from the six municipalities. The full annual report can be found at www.rdno.ca/agendas/150617_AGN_BoD_FULL.pdf.
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Don Quixote Note: On a year over year basis Political Remuneration was $266,153.80 in 2014 as compared to 279,785.00 in 2013. ( decrease of $13.631.20).

Employee Remuneration was $5,823,665.13 in 2014 as compared to 6,150,518.49 in 2013.
( decrease of $326,853.36). (The Total $ amount of the 3 Severance Agreements nor the individual allocations are included in the Employee Remuneration Schedule.)

Statement of Severance Agreements
There were three severance agreements made between the Regional District of North Okanagan and its non-unionized employees during the year ended December 31 , 2014. These agreements ranged from 2 to 9 months of equivalent compensation based on their salaries at the time of the agreements.