Excessive by any Standards

The municipality that is eager to 'save money', so it can tell its property tax victims triumphantly that it will raise taxes a mere 5% this year, and perhaps a little more the following year, is considering cutting transit routes it considers superfluous, much to the dismay of the working people, the senior citizens, the families, the young people attending school who have used that particular route for generations.

This is also, as it happens, the municipality that in its great wisdom is seriously considering cutting back redundant once-weekly trash pick-ups. Presumably the recycled bins for paper and plastics may also go that route. While the green bins are set to be picked up weekly, rather than bi-weekly as currently presents. Wasn't all that long ago that compost pick-up from garden waste was considered an unneeded frill, but public anger reversed that trend.

This is also a municipality whose previous mayor was such an impressive dud there was no chance he would be re-elected. So what the municipal electorate did was re-elect a mayor who had overseen the affairs of the city many years earlier, gone on to provincial politics, then returned to the city to offer himself up for mayor again. His self-assurance, political manner and well-organized campaign with its many volunteers won the day for him, ensconcing him back as mayor.

And as a seasoned politician who knows which way the wind blows, unlike his predecessor in the office, he knows how to get along well with city council, and with city employees.

This is a city of not quite a million residents. Through amalgamation, a province-wide initiative, the city absorbed surrounding municipalities for miles around, and this was done so that consolidating everything -- from policing, to fire stations, school boards to broad municipal services and hospitals - would result in a better, more economical use of resources.

Those who are employed by the municipality must be of high calibre professionalism indeed. Their earning power as city employees is mind-boggling. The city employs quite a large number of individuals all committed to serving the public in the best possible way. Their remuneration is also interesting, since almost 1,200 employees have earnings in excess of $100,000.

The top twenty employees earn from $309,000 down to a mere $190,000. That's big-time salaries. Well beyond what most residents would ever dream of being able to bring home in a pay packet. A number of these top earners bring home over $100,000 because of overtime; some cash in vacation time, some work extra jobs.

Roughly 400 city employees earn a base salary greater than $100,000. The balance of the list represents those who earned retroactive payments, overtime, cash-outs, on-call pay and merit pay.

Mayor Jim Watson explains "Every time the list comes out, I will get calls and councillors will get calls and people will be upset. I understand people may be frustrated when they look at that amount of money and think, 'what does this person do?'"

Precisely.