Cops, firefighters, lead Niagara's $100K list
Niagara Regional Police Chief Jeff McGuire was the top earner amongst regional employees last year.
There were 790 Niagara Region employees on the 2015 Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure list that includes the Niagara Regional Police and public health.
There were 602 members of the Niagara Regional Police on the list, with the top earner, McGuire, making $297,082.03, plus $32,445.09 in taxable benefits.
Last year, Niagara?s medical officer of health, Valerie Jaeger, lead the way. But in 2014, she was the second highest-paid regional employee, making $265,386.85, plus $877.67 in taxable benefits.
McGuire said the NRP is not unlike other like-sized regional police organizations, in that front-line constables make around $90,000.
?It doesn?t take a lot for them to get on the list,? he said.
McGuire said he supports a sunshine list, but it ?needs to be indexed to what it?s original intent was.
?If the $100,000 threshold were to be adjusted to today?s dollar value of approximately $145,000, there would only be 55 NRPS employees on the list of our just over 1,000 employees.
?I fully respect that all of these dollars are taxpayers dollars no matter where the line is drawn. I am a taxpayer also. I do believe the disclosure list would be much closer to its original intent if it were properly adjusted to reflect the value of today?s dollar.
?I would also point out that the pay-duty (off duty) earning of the NRPS officer have always been included in their salary disclosure numbers while some other agencies are reporting that for the first time this year.?
Cops, firefighters and health-care workers were among the top public-sector earners in Niagara, according to the so-called sunshine list released by the provincial government Friday.
Created in the 1990s, reveals the names and salaries of people working for the provincial taxpayer who earn $100,000 a year or more. Making the list in 2014 were 111,438 public servants, up 14% or 13,474 employees, from the previous year.
The top earner at the Niagara Health System, which operates hospitals across the region, was director of pathology, Dr. Suhas Joshi. Joshi made $391,726.05, plus $1,460.28 in taxable benefits. There were 189 NHS employees on the list.
As for municipalities, the city of St. Catharines said in a release that a pay period leap year meant an increase in the number of its employees on the list.
There were 27 pay periods for management employees, instead of the typical 26, according to the release. The additional pay period caused 12 management employees to surpass the $100,000 threshold. This brought the total number of management employees on the list to 32.
In total, 112 city employees appear on the list.
Without the additional pay period, only 20 management employees would have been included on the list, a decrease of one when compared to the 2013 figures, according to the city.
There are also 74 members of St. Catharines Fire and Emergency Services, up from 48 in 2013.
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