Former police chief, CAO among Winnipeg's top paid city employees last year
Winnipeg's police chief and top bureaucrat remained among the city's highest paid civil servants in 2024, despite leaving their positions midway through the year.
The police chief received $498,841 in 2024, according to the city's annual compensation disclosure published Friday.
The figure — which may include any combination of salary and other forms of compensation — would be almost $200,000 higher than what the city paid for the same position a year previous.
Danny Smyth retired from the role on Sept. 3, 2024. He'd been the highest-paid civil servant in 2023, when he was compensated $305,874.
The disclosures may include compensation in the form of taxable benefits, overtime, retroactive pay adjustments, retirement allowance, sick pay cash out, vacation pay cash out, back pay and severance pay.
Before retiring, Smyth had served seven years as chief and had been with the Winnipeg police service for more than 38 years.
Smyth's predecessor, Devon Clunis, received $368,883 in compensation in 2016, his last year as police chief. He'd been with the service for 29 years.
Only ranks of police officers are shown on the annual disclosure. A "chief of police" also claimed the No. 4 spot in 2024 with $312,419 in compensation.
Art Stannard took over from Smyth as acting chief before Gene Bowers took on the job permanently this March.
CAO Jack 3rd highest-paid civil servant in 2024
Michael Jack, who resigned last June from his role as the city's chief administrative officer, was the third highest-paid civil servant with $498,841 in compensation.
Jack's resignation came a week after an audit of the city's workforce found gaps in how the city reviewed staff performance, saying there was "limited accountability" in how it documented whether leaders were meeting key goals.
He had the second-highest compensation out of civil servants in 2023, receiving $287,782.
Sherwood Armbruster — who took over as interim CAO in June — received $222,731 in 2024. Joseph Dunford, the provincial deputy minister of public service delivery, is set to take over the role permanently on Aug. 4.
The disclosures include all civic employees who make $85,000 or more. About 4,200 made the list last year.
Others in the top 10 include human resources director Angie Cusson, Moira Geer who served as deputy CAO, fire chief Christian Schmidt, and four unnamed police officers: a superintendent, a sergeant and two deputy chiefs.
Mayor Scott Gillingham was No. 21 on the list with $223,338.
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