There’s a great deal wrong with the annual Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act. But what it is costing taxpayers is the most erroneous element of them all.
Yes, the Act annually forces the disclosure of everyone making $100,000 or more from organizations that receive funding from the Province of Ontario, a threshold that is woefully out of date to some (especially those exposed on the list). The process is now three decades old, and the bar has yet to be moved.
It’s technically worse than the province’s freeze on disability and Ontario Works support funding. But ask anyone on ODSP or OW about this list, and chances are they’ll want to spit on it.
Even 30 years later, $100,000 a year is a big income in the minds of a lot of people, especially those of us living outside the GTA or other large urban parts of the province.
No one on that list faces food insecurity, that’s for sure.
When you have rank-and-file educators, police officers, paramedics and firefighters make the list, it is arguably time for a shift in the threshold.
But…should such people be making this level of coin, especially in a place such as Chatham-Kent?
Unions will argue the job is the same here as it is in Toronto or London, or Hamilton. In many ways, yes, it is. But cost of living and the taxpayers’ ability to pay these high salaries are realities that are sadly ignored in the delivery of province-wide pay scales.
A person making $100K here has much more disposable income than one living in the heart of Toronto.
And let’s look at some of the big wage earners. Doubtless, some residents are angry just looking at the salary of Chatham-Kent CAO Michael Duben, who pulled in more than $347,000 last year.
Don’t blame Duben. He was not on the other side of the table; he did not hire himself. Instead, there was a committee of councillors who opted to put Duben in control here.
Prior to Duben, Don Shropshire, the former CAO for C-K, pocketed under $260,000 in 2022, his last year with the municipality.
Duben took over in 2023, and made nearly $320,000. Don’t blame the man, blame the committee.
And that trickle-down impact only pads our sunshine numbers.
Taxpayers are getting burned by that harsh light.
Its not really the same because chatham has less gang and gin violence so its also safer. Why not leave a large city for a small safer one and the pay be the same.
Get a foi on chatham employees average wage and compare to the rest of chatham kent. Then we can start a wholesome discussion.