‘Sunshine list’ grows to include 18 King Township staffers

March 28, 2018 · 0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons

King Township paid 18 of its staffers more than $100,000 each in 2017. That’s five more employees than the total in 2016. The top wage-earners pulled in a total of roughly $3.14 million.
The salaries and taxable benefits of employees in the Ontario Public Service and the broader public sector who were paid $100,000 or more in 2017 were released last week. The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act requires public sector organizations to disclose he name, position, salary and taxable benefits of their employees paid $100,000 or more in the previous calendar year.
CAO Susan Plamondon was the highest-paid staffer, earning $192,319.44.
Director of Finance and Treasurer Allan Evelyn earned $153,157.90.
Andrzej Drzewiecki, director of engineering and public works, earned $147,264.66 last year.
Kathryn Moyle, Clerk and Director of Clerks and Bylaw, earned $138,710.61.
Stephen Kitchen, who retired as planning director last year, earned $136,203.90.
Fire Chief Jim Wall pulled in $133,378.70.
Chris Fasciano, director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, earned $128,239.35.
Nick Vertelman, urban services manager, was paid $127,567.20 and Steven Gillies, operations manager, made roughly the same.
Mike Cole, deputy director of engineering and development, made $119,699.32, while Scott Donald, manager of parks, earned $115,970.40.
John Vandenberg, environmental project manager, made $105,412.46. Other top earners included Peter Lavrench, chief building officer, $104,495.88; Alice Liu, deputy treasurer, $103,620.32; David Van Veen, senior project manager, $102,138.28; Gaspare Ritacca, manager of planning and development, $101,477.69; Barbara Harris, IT manager, $101,477.62 and Richard Hampton, facilities manager, $101,477.10.
Two of King’s politicians – Mayor Steve Pellegrini and Councillor Bill Cober – made the list for work outside of King.
Pellegrini, IT program manager for the City of Brampton, made $130,995.15. Cober, an elementary school principal with the York Region District School Board, earned $126,093.34

Region of York

In 2017, York Region paid some very hefty salaries.
York had 15 employees who earned more than $200,000 last year.
York Regional Police Chief Eric Jolliffe is at the top with a salary of $356,322.61.
CAO Bruce Macgregor was close behind with a salary of $310,619.76.
Karim Kurji, medical officer of health, garnered a whopping $274,625.01.
Deputy Police Chief Thomas Carrique, was paid $251,959.41.
Deputy Chief Rudolph Crawford pulled in $236,718.02.
John Richard Gould, associate medical officer of health, pulled in $248,377.29.
William Hughes, commissioner of finance, made $232,087.19.
Dino Basso, commissioner of corporate services, earned $229,725.78.
Erin Mahoney, commissioner of environmental services, was paid $229,725.75.
Regional solicitor Joy Hulton earned $228,134.15.
Wayne Emerson, York Chair, earned $217,863.60.
Paul Jaworski, commissioner of transportation services, earned $215,420.01.
Lilian Yuan, associate medical officer of health, earned $209,404.68.
Sharon Kennedy, executive director of human resources, pulled in $208,587.04.
Cordelia Abakan, GM of social services, pulled in $200,875.70.
Surprisingly, YRP Constable Gregory Williams raked in an impressive $195,252.40.
By comparison, Premier Kathleen Wynne earned $208,974 and Toronto Mayor John Tory earned $188,529 in 2017. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earns roughly $345,400.

Ford criticizes salaries

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford criticized the ever-growing “Sunshine List,” which now numbers over 130,000.
“While people of Ontario are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table, Kathleen Wynne’s friends are getting richer.
“These insiders and fat cats are getting big raises while the real folks in Ontario haven’t had a real raise in years, because of reckless government policies.
“For example, the CEO of Ontario Power Generation got a raise of $400,000 this year. His salary is now $1.5 million.
“Can you believe that?
“People are being forced to choose between heating and eating because hydro rates are so expensive while these insiders are getting rich.”
The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act applies to the provincial government, Crown agencies and corporations, Ontario Power Generation and subsidiaries, publicly funded organizations such as hospitals, municipalities, school boards, universities and colleges, and not-for-profit organizations that meet a funding threshold.
The $100,000 salary threshold for disclosure has not changed since the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act was enacted in 1996, and has not been adjusted to keep up with inflation. If the salary threshold was adjusted for inflation, it would be $151,929 in today’s dollars, reducing the number of employees included in the compendium by 85 per cent.
There are a number of reasons why employees may appear in the compendium, including: employees who are progressing in their career to more challenging positions, natural progression through salary ranges, overtime payments, retroactive pay awards, performance payments and payments that may be required on retirement.
The government is releasing the annual compendium in a downloadable, machine-readable format. The data is also available in sortable, searchable tables on Ontario.ca/salarydisclosure