Latest news with #StatementofFinancialInformation
Hamilton Spectator
27-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Penticton's Sunshine List continues to grow
If you want to get people talking, the annual public Statement of Financial Information (SoFI) always gets the job done — and it's no different in the City of Penticton. At the end of each fiscal year, municipalities across the province are required to provide a SoFI, which was presented at Tuesday's regular meeting of Council in Penticton. The list details remuneration and expenses for all elected officials and reveals all public employees making over $75,000. The threshold for disclosure is different in each province. For example, in Ontario, the names and positions of public servants earning over $100,000 are made public. Kari Stoppler, manager of finance, presented the SoFI list during a brief presentation to Council. 'As part of the SoFI, the Financial Information Act requires the City to prepare a schedule of each employee earning more than $75,000 per year, the total expenses paid to those employees, as well as a consolidated total of all remuneration paid to all other employees,' she said. 'This includes a provision for elected officials to show that similar information — their remuneration and any expenses dispersed.' The SoFI includes wages, vacation pay, and taxable benefits, such as employer-paid health benefits. There's also a list revealing any vendor or supplier the City did business with on contracts worth over $25,000 during the year, as well as consolidated totals paid to all other suppliers. The $75,000 and $25,000 thresholds haven't changed since 2002, she said. There were 224 City of Penticton employees who made over $75,000 in 2024, up by 37 from 2023 and 64 from 2022. Of the 37, 11 were in management and 26 were unionized front-line workers. A total of 435 City employees earn under $75,000. Total payroll for those earning over $75,000 was $24.66 million, an increase of $5.23 million or 27 percent. Payroll for those earning less was $11.24 million, up by nearly $580,000 but a 4.9 percent decrease proportionally. The total payroll for 2024 was $35.9 million, a 14.9 percent increase. Total remuneration includes base pay, overtime, retroactive pay, standby pay, and taxable benefits. For elected officials, base pay was $28,524.44. Mayor Julius Bloomfield's salary was $86,150, with expenses of just under $16,000. Among councillors, Ryan Graham claimed the most expenses ($14,547), for a total remuneration package of $43,071. Campbell Watt claimed just over $10,000 in expenses, Helena Konanz just over $9,000, Isaac Gilbert just over $7,300, Amelia Boultbee (who resigned before becoming MLA for Penticton-Summerland) just over $2,400, and James Miller — presently on mandatory leave — just over $1,100. Gilbert defended Council's expenses. 'I just want to make a comment obviously this report made the news this week,' he said. 'It's kind of like why Council has these expenses to the conferences that we go to and everything. 'I just want to highlight here that I really appreciate this has kind of been tied in with the annual report and how we advocate on behalf of the City of Penticton...' Without attending national and provincial conferences, Penticton wouldn't have secured funding for its temporary winter shelter, he said. 'To get those programs here, to help make this place safer, to get people housing ... this is about relationship-building,' he said. 'At the end of the day, the media likes to sensationalize what we spend.' Gilbert said the current Council works hard to advocate at these conferences. 'I would say this team that we have here at the table, shows up and it advocates on the City's behalf,' he said. 'This is why we have the programs that we do...' Bloomfield echoed those sentiments. 'I've found there is no greater success than sitting in front of a Minister and telling them what we're dealing with in Penticton...' 'Penticton is less than one percent of the population of the Province, but we get a lot more than one percent of the attention from Victoria...' Stoppler noted the $75,000 threshold hasn't changed in nearly 25 years, unlike in other provinces. 'There have been discussions about amending the prescribed amounts and what should be included to reflect inflationary changes, but there's been no movement...' she said. When first implemented more than 20 years ago, inflation was estimated at two percent annually, which would've raised the salary threshold to $116,000. 'If we had that kind of inflationary adjustment... we would have about 73 staff members [on the list],' she said. The increase in employees on the SoFI list is partly due to a new collective agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, she said. 'Municipalities are legislatively required to do SoFI,' she said. 'This is great information that is very detailed... but it really doesn't highlight the benefits or quality of life that we get out of the spend...' Labour remains a significant cost. Penticton compares competitively with Vernon, West Kelowna, and Kelowna — and is much lower than Lake Country, she said. 'According to the 2024 financial statements, labour represented about 33 percent of the City's municipal costs,' she said. City employees who made more than $150,000 last year were: Anthony Haddad, City Manager, $274,773 Kristen Dixon, General Manager of Infrastructure, $220,809 Angela Campbell, Director of Finance and Administration, $191,200 Ryan Bazley, Fire Captain, $189,677 Brent Ryll, Fire Captain, $189,347 Michael Wade, Fire Captain, $188,326 Wesley Swaren, Fire Captain, $187,855 Michael Sutherland, Firefighter, $187,407 Jared Holmes, Fire Captain, $186,119 Erik Jorgensen, Fire Captain, $184,439 Chad Taylor, Fire Captain, $183,053 Andrew Bird, Training Officer, $179,934 Rod Kenney, Firefighter, $179,739 Jayson Johnson, Firefighter, $178,805 Michael Larsson, Fire Chief, $176,993 Blake Laven, Director of Development Services, $176,959 Steve Garrett, Fire Captain, $173,415 Jonathan Chu, City Engineer, $172,502 Kelsey Johnson, Director of Community Services, $171,833 Draydan Power, Manager of Energy and Environment, $168,194 Ryan Hvidston, Firefighter, $166,346 Robert Trousdell, Deputy Fire Chief, $164,553 Anthony Policicchio, Facilities Manager, $162,270 Robert Trupp, Assistant Chief - Training, $161,612 Trevor Dermody, Firefighter, $157,096 Alex Gerk, Firefighter, $153,397 Elias Vikner, Firefighter, $153,250 Curtis Gibbons, Firefighter, $152,748 Cody Erdmann, Firefighter, $151,526 Glen Fordyce, Fire Inspector II, $151,064 Miyoko McKeown, Firefighter, $150,738 Jarrett Achsen, Firefighter, $150,560 Error! 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Global News
06-06-2025
- Business
- Global News
Metro Vancouver's top executive's salary now tops half a million dollars
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Metro Vancouver's top executive received a huge salary increase last year, along with performance pay. The regional district's 2024 Statement of Financial Information reveals chief administrative officer Jerry Dobrovolny was paid a base salary of just over $540,000, an increase of nearly $90,000 compared to his 2023 base salary of about $452,000. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Dobrovolny also received bonus pay of $27,133 and benefits that totalled $25,276. Dobrovolny's entire remuneration in 2024 came in at $592,416. News of the increases comes as Metro Vancouver faces a $250 million lawsuit from the former contractor of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant itself is an estimated $3 billion over budget. 'I would dare say that not a lot of Metro Vancouver taxpayers got a nearly 20 per cent pay raise over the year, especially if they were at the helm of an organization that was bleeding cash like Metro Vancouver,' said New Westminster Councillor Daniel Fontaine. Story continues below advertisement During a sit-down interview in July 2024, Dobrovolny refused to reveal his taxpayer-funded salary.
CBC
16-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
6 charts that break down the City of Vancouver's finances for last year
Every year, it's the biggest disclosure of every municipality in British Columbia. The City of Vancouver is expected to approve its 2024 Statement of Financial Information on Wednesday, a 165-page document that outlines exactly how money was spent in the city last year and how much money virtually every politician and employee made. The yearly disclosure is required by provincial law, and every municipality in B.C. must publicly release their financial statements by June 30. Aside from city hall's budget, it must include the remuneration for every employee, the amount given to different companies for services over $25,000, and the remuneration for every elected official and staff member over $75,000. As such, there are plenty of stories that come out of the annual statements — not just when they're released but in the weeks and months afterward. But here are four immediate stories from Vancouver's statement that caught our eye. A $3 billion city It was just 20 years ago that Vancouver's revenues eclipsed $1 billion for the first time, and since then, they have steadily risen, with the exception of a one-time pandemic in 2020. But last year, they went up at a rate never seen before. For the first time, Vancouver's revenues eclipsed $3 billion in 2024, a $548.5 million increase from 2023. According to the city, the majority of that increase was due to a $333.3 million increase in developer contributions, which the city attributed to "phased community amenities [and] development cost levies." Because most of that increase was unplanned, the city recorded an $860,634 annual surplus, continuing a long line of large surpluses that the city reinvests into various contingency funds and capital projects. Overall, the city's operating expenditures remained similar year over year, with the highest line item going to police protection ($474 million), followed by utilities, parks and recreation, and engineering. Highest paid employees Every year, plenty of attention is paid to the city's highest paid employees, but the list is generally quite stable, with the top managers in various departments generally receiving steady increases in their base pay. So it was again in 2024 in Vancouver, as retiring police Chief Adam Palmer received $487,224, once again the highest in the city. That was a five per cent increase from his 2023 salary, and his three deputy chiefs were the third to fifth highest paid employees in the city, with city manager Paul Mochrie second at $387,110. The top 10 paid employees with the city all made more than $300,000, just the second time that has happened. 6-figure councillors For the first time in Vancouver's history, all sitting councillors received over $100,000 in base compensation for their year in office. The 10 elected councillors made between $102,674 and $119,749 for their roles, with their base rate of $101,937.68 being augmented by various stints as deputy mayor or acting mayor. (Those salaries do not include additional compensation for sitting on various Metro Vancouver boards.) Mayor Ken Sim made $207,958, with $22,756 in local expenses and $28,034 charged for travel and various conferences. There have been several stories about Sim's travel as mayor, and while the amount he's expensed the city is significantly higher than his predecessor Kennedy Stewart, it's comparable with that of Gregor Robertson, Vancouver's mayor from 2008 to 2018, who re-entered political life this month as a federal candidate for Parliament with the Liberal Party. A reminder that what goes around in politics often comes around.
