97 city employees top $100K

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This article was published 05/07/2017 (3243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With 97 employees earning $100,000 or more in 2016, a six-figure salary is much more common at the City of Brandon than in years past.

A historic look at the city’s compensation disclosure reports shows a significant jump in this category since 2008, when just nine employees were paid $100,000 or more. These figures include total compensation — regular earnings plus any overtime.

The city recently released its annual compensation disclosure report, a requirement under Manitoba’s Public Sector Compensation Disclosure Act. The report lists city employees who earned $50,000 or more in 2016, as well as city council compensation.

The $100,000 category has seen steady increases over eight years — 29 employees in 2010, 57 in 2012 and 67 in 2013. It spiked in 2014 when it reached 98 employees, and went down to 91 in 2015.

Acting city manager Rod Sage points out that often overtime can push employees into the six figures from their base salary.

“If anyone’s in that, let’s say $93,000 to $97,000 range, and they happen to make some overtime then they’re over that hundred (thousand),” Sage said. “If they’re making overtime, then there’s issues that go along with that.”

Looking just at regular salaries, there were 85 employees who earned $100,000 or more before overtime earnings.

Overtime costs, according to the city report, amounted to $1.1 million last year. Twenty-six people earned more than $10,000 in overtime, a majority of which were in the police and fire/emergency departments. A few police specialists earned in the range of $30,000 to $40,000 in OT.

Sage said one major reason for Brandon Police Service overtime in 2016 was Project Derringer, a seven-month multi-agency investigation. More than $250,000 worth of illicit drugs, including crystal meth, was seized during a series of raids in the Brandon area. It was a joint effort between BPS, Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba RCMP.

“You will have some police officers on that list now that are over $100,000 that may not have been … if there wasn’t that type of investigation going on,” Sage said.

There are other areas of the city’s operations that will always have overtime costs, Sage added. After-hours sewer backups, water main breaks or a breakdown of snow-clearing equipment are just a few examples.

“Private businesses have customers. Local government doesn’t have customers, it has citizens,” he said. “We don’t have the ability to say, ‘Sorry nobody’s at work right now, we’ll get to you at 8 a.m.’ … There’s emergency situations.”

Sage stressed that managers and supervisors are all tasked with tracking overtime and sick time on a regular basis.

“If there’s certain departments or certain areas where overtime is high, or it’s above a threshold, then those directors are expected to provide an overview,” Sage said. “What’s the driving force and why is overtime so high?”

Over the past several years, the city has been working to crack down on sick time abuse and overtime costs, following concerns that were raised in 2013.

“By tracking overtime, by tracking sick time, by understanding how many full-time employees you have … it just helps strengthen that tax dollars are going where they need to go, and are being invested the way they should be,” Sage said.

Looking at the historical data, the number of city employees earning $50,000 or more has nearly doubled since 2008. In 2016, there were 447 employees listed, compared to 228 in 2008. Total compensation paid out to city employees in this report (excluding city councillors), was $35.3 million, compared to $16.4 million in 2008.

The vast majority of city employees earn above

$50,000, however, there were approximately 200 who earned below that threshold in 2016.

“As years go on, and wages follow cost of living, or increases as per collective bargaining agreements, then someone that’s not on the list one year, might be on the list next year,” Sage said.

Mayor Rick Chrest, the only full-time member of city council, earned $82,500 in total compensation. Most city councillors earned in the range of $18,000 to $23,000, which includes regular compensation and expense allowance.

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Top 20 City of Brandon earners (excluding BPS)

1. Scott Hildebrand, former city manager — $206,208

2. Brent Dane, fire chief —$156,145

3. Rod Sage, general manager of operations — $140,572

4. Scott McDonald, deputy fire chief — $139,211

5. Dean Hammond, general manager of corporate services/ city treasurer — $135,253

6. Terry Parlow, deputy fire chief —$132,375

7. Ian Broome, director of public works — $129,768

8. Vicki Fifi, director of legal services —$128,166

9. Sandy Trudel, director of economic development —$127,620

10. Val Rochelle, director of finance — $122,347

11. Patrick Pulak, director of engineering and water resources — $122,247

12. Perry Roque, director of community services — $122,186

13. Todd Burton, director of information technology — $121,900

14. Linda Poole, director of human resources — $116,917

15. Ross Robinson, director of emergency communications — $116,793

16. Brian Kayes, director of risk and emergency management — $115,490

17. Heather Ewasiuk, city clerk — $114,850

18. Michael Ketcheson, firefighter — $113,641

19. Carla Richardson, director of transportation services — $113,149

20. Greg Merke, manager of building safety — $112,649

Top 10 Brandon Police Service earners

1. Police chief — $170,617

2. Deputy police chief — $156,922

3. Police specialist 669 — $145,119

4. Police sergeant 2485 — $144,078

5. Police specialist 661 — $143,658

6. Deputy police chief 1173 — $141,258

7. Police staff sergeant 4564 — $138,242

8. Police specialist 660 — $137,350

9. Police staff sergeant 268 — $135,575

10. Police specialist 859 — $135,005

In accordance with the Police Services Act, BPS officers are not named in the report, but instead identified through their badge number.

» The Brandon Sun