ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Paycheques tell the tale of who gets what at City Hall

Aug 22, 2020 | 10:27 AM

ARE CITY EMPLOYEES and City council worth their paycheques?

That’s a subjective question if there ever was one but first you have to know how much they’re getting paid. The numbers are available — at least for those making more than $75,000 — in a document called the Statement of Financial Information Report (SOFI).

That’s the report all municipalities must file under the Financial Information Act, usually by June 30 of each year. This year the deadline was extended to Aug. 31 due to the pandemic.

The total bill for remuneration to City employees not including benefits was more than $61 million in 2019. Of that, employees making more than $75,000 a year account for $33,242,932 of it. Council members cost a little under $400,000.

A bit of trivia — in 2000, there was one City employee making more than $100,000. That was the chief administrative officer. In 2019, there were 183 of them. In 2000, the CAO was paid $110,000 a year. In 2019, current CAO David Trawin was paid just shy of $273,000. Add the benefits and it comes in at $286,137.

Several senior managers pull in more than $200,000 including benefits. Corporate services director Kathy Humphrey makes $190,241 in pay ($210,395 including benefits), engineering director Marvin Kwiatkowski makes $197,220 ($208,023), civic operations director Jen Fretz $192,563 ($212,193), and community and protective services director Byron McCorkell $211,191 ($230,364).

Those numbers don’t include expenses. Trawin, for example, was paid $10,930 for expenses incurred on City business. McCorkell submitted for $8,093, Humphrey $8,309, Kwiatkowski $6,032.

Overall, the total bill for staff salaries increased by $1.1 million over the previous year. Firefighters stand out as being pretty well paid in comparison to other employees. Their union contract bases salaries on the average paid in several other municipalities, including the Lower Mainland. Several dozen firefighters make more than $100,000.

That might signal a need to revisit the formula. Why a Kamloops firefighter’s rate of pay should be determined in part by what’s paid in the Lower Mainland, where the cost of living is obviously much higher, has long been a question.

City councillors were paid $38,049 each plus benefits and expenses. That’s a boost of about $5,000 over the past three years. Mayor Ken Christian’s salary was $95,124 plus $12,300 in taxable benefits and payouts for a total of $107,424. He also received $2,794 for “council representation” and $6,298 in expenses.

Benefits and payouts cited in the report include such things as parking and group life insurance. Council representation refers to the costs of sitting on outside boards that require travel. Council members aren’t eligible for pensions but Christian’s taxable benefits include a car allowance.

Trivia point Number Two: In 2016, then-Mayor Peter Milobar’s pay was $100,487.11 plus the other stuff. That’s about five grand more than Christian received three years later, but Humphrey explains it’s likely due to the number of pay days in each year rather than the actual pay rate.

The mayor’s salary is calculated as an average of a dozen other B.C. cities, while councillors are paid 40 per cent of what the mayor gets (it used to be 30 per cent). They also get a City cell phone complete with plan and a laptop or tablet.

Most council-member expenses relate to attendance at conventions such as the Union of B.C. Municipalities. Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Southern Interior Local Government Association.

Other than the mayor, the biggest spender in 2019 was Coun. Sadie Hunter, who was reimbursed $6,475.65, including a couple of thousand bucks for an FCM conference in Quebec City. Bill Sarai was next at $6,220.82, including a trip to Japan.

But back to paycheques and whether they’re in line. One way of looking at them is in comparison to other cities and, on that score, they don’t seem to be out of step. In Prince George, for example, the City manager was paid $257,000 in 2018 while the mayor got $104,973.58 plus the other stuff for a total of $122,973.58. Prince George, which has a population of 74,000 compared to 90,000 in Kamloops, appears not to have filed its report yet for this year.

Maple Ridge, with a population of just over 82,000, paid its mayor $123,158.32 plus benefits and expenses in 2019, while the CAO got $235,000 in remuneration.

Another way of determining whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth is through employee evaluations, standard practice in governments and corporations. Kamloops doesn’t have a written policy on that but does carry out performance reviews for all management staff once a year.

Vernon, on the other hand, has a comprehensive, clear policy and procedure for its staff reviews, setting out steps, principles and deliverables.

Regardless, the information on individual employees is, of course, confidential.

City employee paycheques will look generous to many who make much less, but whether or not they’re too much or too little for those responsible for keeping the wheels of local government running is a matter of opinion.

Maybe a bigger question is whether staffing levels themselves are where they should be, or whether bloat is setting in.

AROUND THE TOWN: Coffeed this week with former City councilor John DeCicco, who’s looking as young and spry as when he held court at the Continental Barbershop in the old days. A lot of issues were brought forward as John trimmed his clients’ hair…. Seen on Victoria Street — former B.C. Attorney-General Bud Smith …. We lost a couple of more really good people with the passing of Rae Wilson and Jan Cook. Rae and his wife Connie owned and operated the Valley Supply nursery in Barnhartvale for many years, where you could always hear Rae laughing and talking politics. He sat on a number of community committees including Beautify Kamloops and the Rivers Trail committee and the Kamloops Street Rod Association. Jan was involved in too many community groups and causes to list. The ones through which I got to know her included the chamber and the Heritage Commission.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

View Comments