By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
High municipal wages in small communities puts a hefty burden on taxpayers, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
That’s what Ontario director Jay Goldberg said about the paycheques of folks leading the way on what’s known as the Ontario Sunshine List. Under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, wages in the public sector for organizations, including municipalities, school boards, colleges and hospitals, for those earning $100,000 a year and up must be publicly disclosed.
Based on data compiled on the Ontario Sunshine List website – an independent non-government agency – 319 Chatham-Kent municipal employees were on the list for 2023 with overall wages totaling more than $41 million. Approximately a third of the cost is related to policing, with 57 Chatham-Kent Fire & Rescue employees cresting the $100,000 mark.
With an annual salary in 2023 of $319,277, C-K Chief Administrative Officer Michael Duben is the highest paid municipal official. Chatham-Kent Police Services Chief Gary Conn is second with a salary of $265,545. Third highest was April Rietdyk, general manager of community human services who earned $244,391 in 2023.
“I think that in a town of that size, that’s an astronomical sum of money,” Goldberg said, noting that when government workers make way more than the average taxpayer, they tend to be out of sync with the ordinary citizen.
“These folks that are in charge of making policy aren’t really able to be in touch or relate to the day-to-day struggles of people putting food on the table or fuel in the gas tank,” Goldberg said. “They’re more willing to tax and spend.”
High municipal salaries that are on par, or exceed those of bigger municipalities with a much larger tax base, pose a significant challenge in areas with smaller populations such as Chatham-Kent, he added.
Chatham-Kent has another expensive wrinkle. Thomas Kelly, former head of engineering and infrastructure, who was tapped to take on the CAO’s position, earned more than $240,000 in 2023, but didn’t work a single day.
Goldberg called the payment “outrageous.
“It’s unbelievable,” he added. “People are struggling to pay property taxes and these salaries are putting a greater burden on them. Obviously, he must have had this written in a contract.”
Kelly was slated to take over the CAO job following the retirement of long-time CAO Don Shropshire. However, the municipality changed lanes at the last minute and hired Tony Haddad as the interim CAO, prior to Duben coming on full time.
Citing privacy concerns, municipal officials offered no reason as to why Thomas was dropped from the CAO position.
While critics are recommending the Sunshine List threshold should be raised to $150,000 from $100,000 saying it doesn’t reflect current times, Goldberg doesn’t think $100,000 is an unfair benchmark.
“While we know that incomes have changed since 1996, I think we should have maximum transparency,” he stated, noting that some Canadian municipalities disclose the wage of any government employees making more than $60,000.
Outside of municipal staff, the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has 333 staff on the Ontario list, while the Lambton Kent District School Board has 906 employees above the $100,000 mark. The St. Clair Catholic District School Board has 114 people listed.
Why does the LKDSB have x10 employees above the $100000 threshold than the St Clair Catholic School Board? Is it x10 bigger or do they just pay their employees more?