Labour and Expense Costs Climb at City
The total number of employees in 2015 was 921, up from 916 reported in 2014.
The report for last year also shows that of the 921 employees, 272 were making more than $75 thousand dollars a year. That’s up from the 244 who were reported above that salary range in the previous year.
The impact of the retroactive pay to members of Prince George Fire Rescue may be part of the reason behind the increase in numbers of employees making above the $75 thousand dollar mark as well as the overall costs for employees year over year.
In 2015, the overall remuneration to all employees was just over $56.2 million, up from the $48.3 million paid in 2014. Expenses are also up on a year to year comparison. In 2014, the total amount of expenses paid for all employees was $819,687.34. In 2015 the expenses climbed to $944,130.75
When it comes to Mayor and Council, it is difficult to offer comparisons as 2015 was the first full year of office for some.
Councillor Garth Frizzell, who topped the expenses list in 2014 with just over $14,800 in expenses, is noted as having an expense ‘deficit’ in 2015 of just over $3,700 . In Councillor Frizzell’s case, many of his expenses are covered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Some of the FCM’s reimbursements for 2014 had not been received by the end of that year, so they would have been applied to 2015 resulting in the recorded deficit.
Here are the numbers for Mayor and Council:
| Name | Remuneration | Expenses 2014 | Expenses 2015 |
| Everitt, Frank | $31,867.50 | $3,688.27 | $4,588.74 |
| Frizzell, Garth | $31,867.50 | $14,864.83 | ($3,703.19) |
| Hall, Lyn | $99,502.50 | n/a | $6,392.96 |
| Koehler, Albert | $31,867.50 | $5,266.60 | $5,547.48 |
| Krause, Murry | $31,867.50 | $5,977.89 | $3,171.98 |
| McConnachie, Terri | $31,867.50 | n/a | $3,785.53 |
| Merrick, Jillian | $31,867.50 | n/a | $4,070.00 |
| Scott, Susan | $31,867.50 | n/a | $2,809.89 |
| Skakun, Brian | $31,867.50 | $3,664.39 | $1,409.14 |
Once again, it is the City Manager’s position which had the highest salary among all City employees. Kathleen Soltis is listed as having been paid $223,415.51 for 2015, and had expenses of $17,465.35
Comments
This council is taking a page out of the Obama administration. They sure promised a lot, and have done nothing but increased spending, and driven up costs.
They could start by negotiating contract language. WHO pays 25 bucks an hour to summer help??
They also need to get their overtime under control..
One can’t even get Bylaw officer on weekend
Just some suggestions
You’re funny. Fiscal responsibility provides no photo ops.
Until the city management changes their attitude toward yearly pay increases, the labour costs will always go up. It is like the “lowest” price it the law! except this is “the ____est wage its the law”. The current management gets a pay raise every year, this has become the culture at the city, which is passed on to the employees, who also want a wage increase if management get one.
This has a little to do with council, but is more a reflection of management attitude towards the taxpayers. Council could change it, but at a high cost. If my memory is correct the annual pay raise goes back about 20 years, but I could be wrong. I am sure someone will correct me if I am, but I suspect I will not be corrected.
Interesting many have complained about councils wages, but in comparison to the employees wages the are really nothing. The city manager makes almost as much in wages as all the councillors put together.
The top two wage earners make more than the Mayor and Council, including their expenses put together.
I believe that the consistent annual pay raises go back something in the order of the last 28 years!
First issue, is most of the city employees are unionized. So to hold the line on wages requires a negotiation with a union. In the private sector, when I’ve had to sit on the management side of the table, we were able to successfully show the union their demands would end up in shutting the company down – so, they backed off.
In a pubic sector negotiation, the union knows you can always go to the taxpayer for more money, and they always want to be paid at least the average of everyone else, but every time someone moves up, so does the average.
If the people of Prince George really wants to deal with this, they have to elect a mayor and council who are willing to let the union go out on an extended strike, along with all the inconvenience such a strike will cause. It’s easy to declare war, it’s not so much fun when your garbage is piling up in the streets, water lines are breaking with no one to fix them, and all the parks and recreational facilities are closed.
And the new changes to the CPP are really going to hit hard. Many of the city employees make more than $55,000, so the city will have to pay 4% of that excess that never use to be caught by CPP. Ball park I figure 1.2 million additional payroll cost. Just try and get the union to accept a zero increase because the Feds just increased your payroll expense by 2.5%.
And when you think of it, the CPP changes will take 2.4 million out of this community when you count the employee portion – just for city workers, never mind pulpmills, Northern Health, the University, CRA.
There is more to the new CPP changes than meet the eye! From the Financial Post on Tuesday, June 21, 2016:
Philip Cross: The dirty secret of a bigger CPP is that it’s to help bail out public-sector pension plans
ht tp://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/philip-cross-the-dirty-secret-of-a-bigger-cpp-is-that-its-to-help-bail-out-public-sector-pension-plans
I read that. It gets better. The Feds have suggested the CPP Investment Board look into – investing in infrastructure in Canada – like toll roads and bridges.
Now, a truly independent board, would invest where ever the best return is. Each director of the CPP board is appointed by the Federal Finance Minister. So how can they be truly independent. They will likely invest where it’s suggested they invest.
“How directors are appointed
Directors are appointed by the federal Finance Minister in consultation with the participating provinces, and with the assistance of a nominating committee.”
Here’s the numbers on the new CPP. If you pay the maximum for 40 of the 47 years you are in it, using 1.8% inflation rate, you should get $50,645.00 in CPP in 40 years from now.
Now pretend instead they announced you must contribute to your own RSP, and your employer must match your contributions to the same numbers. You’d have to put in $7661.00 in year one, and it would go up by inflation. When all is said and done, with a 4% rate of return, 40 years hence, you’d have $1,055,684.00. Drawing out 50,645.00 a year, increasing by 1.8%,the money would be all gone by your 92nd birthday. So, for CPP to be break even for you, you must live until 92. And keep in mind, if you die, your spouse may get 60% of your pension, she may get nothing if she already get’s the maximum CPP.
If the money was in your hands – as a locked in RSP, and you die, you get to keep it.
Anyhow, the new CPP is not a great deal, which means,there is some transference of current obligation to a future generation.
Interesting numbers in regards to CPP. I wonder if the suggestion to invest in infrastructure, which will then be tolled forever to allow us to use it, has anything to do with the FACT that for most private companies their profits, taken as a percentage of their sales, are generally FALLING year by year, not rising? And are no longer considered to be very good long-term investments. They have to keep getting bigger to report a larger dollar figure in profits, (even though they have to sell WAY more to do that, it’s NOT proportional), to maintain their credit with the banks. This is non-sustainable, as any study of the corporate histories of the former giants of BC’s forest industry will confirm. The same, I believe holds true pretty well in all other industrial sectors.
The other thing not considered is that every dollar taken from the employee and his employer in CPP is a dollar that has been costed into the price of some good or service. Investing that dollar creates ANOTHER cost, while it leaves the original one unliquidated and incapable of being liquidated UNLESS someone BORROWS another dollar. Which the banks will be only to happy to create and lend, ON TERMS FAVOURABLE TO THEMSELVES.
So we have 272 people making over $36 an hour.. Why?
Time to see a list of who we pay what
That Abercrombie or what ever his name is making $155,000 a year and haven’t heard a peep from him.. Time to let him go..and I am sure there are a few more useless ppl that could easily be let go.
Our councillors make more than a person working full time on minimum wage..time to cut that back to a reasonable amount.
ht tp://princegeorge.ca/cityservices/finance/Pages/default.aspx
Down near the bottom “Statements of Financial Information” has the 2014 salaries for all the city employees > $75,000.
I’m really surprised to see that those of the “left-leaning” persuasion haven’t been lining up here to defend these increases!
I’m worried! You guys ok?
The only people that should be making over $100,000 ar the mayor, city manager and the fire fighters.
I know the firefighters reason for making so much is overtime. They are short staffed and now respond to everything these days.
P Val…I agree.
At least the firefighters “earn” their wages compared to some of the councillors.
It would also be interesting to see what the councillors claim as expenses.
Look at the rediculous increase the council in Ft McMurray gave themselves.
“Previously, Mayor Melissa Blake was the only full-time member of council. However, three councillors will now work full-time now that they have been appointed to the Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee.
Blake and councillors assigned to the committee will earn $150,000 each year. Salaries for the remaining seven part-time councillors was bumped from $35,000 to $75,000.
Before the pay hike, Blake earned roughly $123,000. ”
Village, Town and City Councils and employees get very healthy wage increases on the backs of the taxpayers which many are struggling to survive. Mayors and Councils should be shamed of themselves for their lack of leadership.
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