Report Shows City Staff Are Overpaid

A new provincial government report says that municipal governments are overpaying their staff compared to both the province and the private sector.

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), the report prepared by Ernest and Young was obtained over the weekend and confirms its suspicions.

“Most municipal councils are too scattered in their philosophy and prone to pressure by unions to hold the line on spending,” said CTF B.C. Director Jordan Bateman. “With as much as two-thirds of a city’s operating budget going to employee wages and benefits, it’s no wonder property taxes have skyrocketed in so many communities across B.C.”

According to Bateman, the report found that the municipal union employees received a 38 per cent hike in pay from 2001 to 2012. That’s twice as much as the 19 per cent increase given to the province’s core employees. The CTF says inflation during that same period was 23 per cent, much lower than the municipal union pay increase.

The City of Vancouver pays the highest salaries in the province with “strategic leadership” managers taking home the massive paycheques. Cities in the province have a higher percentage of employees making $75,000 or more a year than provincial employees. Kelowna lands on that list with Abbotsford topping it.

“Every municipal election candidate should read this report and articulate to voters how they would better manage labour costs,” said Bateman. “Instead of the usual platitudes and spending plans, let’s see some platforms with real ideas on how to save money for taxpayers.”

Of 10 local governments surveyed only one reported publicly how they set compensation, that being the City of Richmond.

The City of Kelowna 2013 Financial Report indicated that city employees earned a total of $61 million last year. The highest paid city employee is City Manager Ron Mattiussi at $258,728, followed by Deputy City Manager Paul Macklem at $195,615. The average paycheck for a city employee is around $80,000 per year.