By Chad Klassen

Kamloops pay rates in line with other municipalities, says city CAO

Jun 27, 2017 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — The city’s chief administrative officer says the recently released salaries of city directors, managers and unionized employees, are in line with other B.C. municipalities.

In 2016, the city spent more than $58 million on salaries and wages. Ninety-two employees earn $100,000 or more working for the City of Kamloops.

CAO David Trawin says he’s trying to ensure each department is economically efficient. He notes though that some of those making more than $100,000 are firefighters with Kamloops Fire Rescue, and their wages are not negotiated by the city.

“A lot of the firefighter contracts are settled through arbitration or there’s the parity with Vancouver and the Lower Mainland communities, so there’s very limited we can do with those,” says Trawin. “In terms of management, management contracts are based upon what we consider, same as council, we take 13 communities and we take the average of the 13 communities, and that’s the highest that the manager will get paid in certain grids.”

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Trawin says while some may think the pay grades are high, he says some positions pale in comparison to the private sector. 

“In certain areas, it’s very difficult even to get people at that salary,” he notes. “For example, engineers and that type of thing. We do review every management position when it comes open to see whether we need it. We are doing a fuller review in terms of number of managers, number of employees.”

INTERACTIVE: Read the full financial information disclosure below