The City of New Westminster’s $200,000 club has a lone member, but the $100,000 club is acquiring quite a crowd.
The city’s recently released statement of financial information shows the city paid $54,863,748 for remuneration and expenses ($510,000 of that amount) in 2017, excluding sworn police members. Of that total, nearly $29 million went to the 265 city employees earning $75,000 or more.
Coming out on top was the city’s chief administrative officer Lisa Spitale, the lone city employee to make more than $200,000. Along with remuneration of $230,267, she had expenses of $5,494.
Of the 265 people making the 2017 list of employees earning more than $75,000, 30 earned $75,000 to $79,999, 51 made between $80,000 and $89,999 and 29 came in between $90,000 and $99,999. All totalled, 155 city employees had total remuneration and expenses of more than $100,000, including Spitale, 20 who made over $150,000 and 134 who earned between $100,000 and $149,999.
A decade earlier, the city’s top wage earner was then city administrator Paul Daminato at $170,076. In 2007, 28 employees earned more than $100,000 and only one topped $150,000.
Last year, Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering, was the second highest paid city employee (including expenses) at $190,449, with Rod Carle, director of the electrical utility ($189,172) and fire chief Tim Armstrong ($188,392) close behind.
Next up at $183,910 was Bev Grieve, who recently retired as the director of development services and Richard Fong, assistant director of human resources, at $183,477. Two department heads were next in line, with recently retired Gary Holowatiuk, director of finance and information technology, at $179,063 and Dean Gibson, director of parks and recreation, at $177,616.
Firefighters and electrical utility employees took the next spots on the list: David Phillips (fire) – $173,733; Merlin Peterson (electrical utility) – $171,981; Jim Wishlove (deputy fire chief) – $168,143; John Hatch (deputy fire chief) – $166,497; and Pierre Gaudreault (electrical utility) – $164,547.
Other employees earning more than $150,000 in 2017 include: Jackie Teed, acting director of development services – $162,608; Alvin Chok, chief information officer – $160,307; Celso Manubay, electric utility – $157,815; Michael Nash, electric utility – $157,023; and Jan Gibson, former city clerk – $154,618; and Curtis Bremner, assistant deputy fire chief – $154,521.
Two firefighters, Erin Williams ($152,050) and Bruce Zelter ($151,509) and the city’s acting director of finance, Colleen Ponzini ($150,104) took the final spots.
Each year, the city releases a report listing the names, remuneration and expenses for all employees earning $75,000 and up. While the city’s firefighters are included in the statement of financial information, police officers aren’t included in the report because the Police Act supersedes the Financial Information Act and they're not required to be included in the statement of financial information.
