Woolwich and Wellesley townships contributed 16 members to a list of people on the public dime who earned more than $100,000 in 2018, up from just seven the year before.
Across the province, the list – which includes doctors, nurses, teachers, police and firefighters in addition to civil servants – includes 151,197, up 14.8 per cent from 131,741 in 2017.
The provincially mandated salary information, known as the Sunshine List, was released last week.
Topping the list for the third year in a row was the CEO of Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Jeffrey Lyash, who was paid $1,746,824.96 in 2018, a $192,368 increase from the year before. Four of the top 10 earners on the list worked for OPG, while three were hospital CEOs. The top 10 also included CEOs of the Ontario Pension Board and Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
In Woolwich, chief administrative officer David Brenneman was the highest paid of township employees, taking in $151,032.70. Director of engineering and planning Dan Kennaley, was paid $116,704.38, as did director of finance/treasurer Richard Petherick. Director of recreation and facilities Ann McArthur got $109,702.04, clerk Val Hummel was paid $116,704.35 and acting manager of engineering Jared Puppe received $108,810.54. Manager of engineering operations Barry Baldasaro was paid $105,210.27. Fire chief Dale Martin got $102,281.93, while chief building office David Heuchert received $100,916.98. Planning manager John Scarfone, who retired at year’s end, was paid $100,916.96.
… includes doctors, nurses, teachers, police and firefighters, civil servants – includes 151,197, up from 131,741 in 2017.
In Wellesley, chief administrative officer Rik Louwagie was paid $132,552.58. The township’s lone member in 2017, he was joined on the list by five others in 2018. Chief building official Darryl Denny was paid $103,682.07, planner Geoff Vanderbaaren got $102,733.38, as did director of public works Kevin Beggs. Clerk Grace Kosch made $102,813.78, the same amount paid to treasurer Theresa Bisch.
The Region of Waterloo has 357 employees on the list, up from 311 the year before, while the police contributed 673 names, up from 641 in 2017.
Across the region, 5,845 people made the list, many of them, 1,864, faculty and staff at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College.
When first introduced in 1996, the list contained 4,319 names. Inflation is responsible for much of the increase: adjusted for inflation, $100,000 then is now the equivalent of about $150,000 today.
The average weekly wage for workers in Ontario was 1,023.78 at the end of 2018, which amounts to $53,236.56 per year. That includes overtime pay, and assumes no weeks off, amounting to almost half of the Sunshine List threshold.
