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Municipal Salaries


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#21 Nparker

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Posted 08 July 2011 - 08:17 PM

Is it only the top-tier poobahs that seem to be able to cash in days they were already paid for?


I am not certain how management's (aka the "poobahs") sick leave provisions work. For BCGEU staff our sick days are paid at 75% of our regular hourly wage, and if you want full pay you have to "top up" from some other leave bank, usually vacation. There are no set amount of sick days earned per year, and so they can not accumulate over time. You can have up to 6 months of consecutive sick days under STIIP (Short Term Illness & Injury Protection), at which point an application for Long Term Disability must be made. The qualifications for LTD are quite stringent, and not many qualify. Keep in mind that LTD is an insurance program and is not paid out of general government budgets. Also I might add, that any illness that produces an absence of more than 5 consecutive work days MUST be verified by a qualified medical practitioner.

I know that some municipal employees still have cumulative sick days, but as I said this has not been the practice in the BC Public Service in at least 20 years.

#22 G-Man

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Posted 09 July 2011 - 07:30 AM

Oh boy this is going to come back to bite me somehow.

The public sector can operate with a percentage of lost man hours due to illness easier than the private sector can.

The private sector relies on employees to provide an hourly profitable service. Waiting in line at a restaurant is not the same as waiting in line to renew your driver's license. You will come back for a drivers license no matter how long you waited last time.

I encourage our employees to show up even if they are not feeling their best, just like our daughter does at university so she won't miss an important class.

We have a sick plan of 6 paid days a year. If you weren't sick during the year we encourage an extended Christmas or Summer vacation, something that can be scheduled in advance.....for the benefit of the employee and the employer and the customer.

We do not endorse the use it or loose it adage. The sick time is calculated into our charge out rate, and it belongs to the employee.

If they phone in sick....they are.


^ This is not always true. While true enough most government offices do not work to produce profit (some do) many work to legislated timelines which means that when they are not you are in effect breaking the law. I have found that in general an engaged group of employees will only call in sick if they are sick. I also know many dedicated employees that will come in even if sick and then are encouraged to go home.

I just want to clarify that the public employee is not any different than any other employee. They want to do a good job, they work hard and do not call in sick every other day. In my eight years with the public service I think I have taken 3 sick days.

I just wish that people would get past right rhetoric and understand that public servants are the same as any other work group.

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#23 spanky123

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Posted 09 July 2011 - 09:44 AM

^ This is not always true. While true enough most government offices do not work to produce profit (some do) many work to legislated timelines which means that when they are not you are in effect breaking the law. I have found that in general an engaged group of employees will only call in sick if they are sick. I also know many dedicated employees that will come in even if sick and then are encouraged to go home.

I just want to clarify that the public employee is not any different than any other employee. They want to do a good job, they work hard and do not call in sick every other day. In my eight years with the public service I think I have taken 3 sick days.

I just wish that people would get past right rhetoric and understand that public servants are the same as any other work group.


I think that there is a happy medium here. No employer wants hacking and sneezing staff showing up at work infecting everyone else. On the flip side, the fact that you have a headache from partying the night before isn't an excuse for a paid day off.

I have worked in companies that have had limited paid sick days and ones that have had policies smilar to what the Government offers. My experience has been that companies with limited paid sick days have "healthier" employees. Whether that means people show up to work when they shouldn't because they need the money or simple have fewer "headaches" I can't say. What I know is that when I was working for a company that was very flexible and one of my coworkers was constantly "sick" it wore on me and I could easily see how people could be tempteed to take advantage of the employers good faith if for no other reason then to get what others were getting.

#24 G-Man

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Posted 10 July 2011 - 06:09 AM

^ I would say that it is the supervisors job to ensure that any rule or benefit is not abused.

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#25 Mike K.

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Posted 10 July 2011 - 07:19 AM

Anyone familiar with the sick pay policies at City Hall?

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#26 Linear Thinker

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Posted 10 July 2011 - 12:33 PM

Anyone familiar with the sick pay policies at City Hall?

For CUPE, unused sick time cannot be paid out. There was a time when this could be paid out at retirement, but this is no longer in place.
As for exempt staff, you would have to FOI.
BTW, view any collective agreement you want at the LRB site.

#27 Mike K.

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Posted 10 July 2011 - 06:04 PM

Thanks, LT.

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#28 LJ

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Posted 10 July 2011 - 08:03 PM

You think sick leave policies are expensive wait til BCTF gets their way with an NDP government, my favourite of their proposals - 10 days off for the death of a "friend".

Man, I can see them "friending" everybody on facebook for this, right after their daily read of the "obits".
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#29 Kungsberg

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Posted 06 August 2017 - 03:45 PM

Hard to know which thread to put this in:

"Staffing Up @ Victoria City Hall" ?

"Victoria City Hall jobs" ?

         or even

"Municipal Property Taxes" ?

or one of the "Amalgamation" threads ?

 

http://www.timescolo...ners-1.21660538

 

Victoria city staff among region’s top civic earners

 

Victoria city senior staff remain among the top civic earners in the region, according to recently released financial information.

 

City manager Jason Johnson was the city’s highest paid official with $274,977 in salary and benefits in 2016 and $8,193 in expenses.

Next highest was city solicitor Tom Zworski, at $238,329 in salary and benefits.

 

 

Deputy city manager Jocelyn Jenkyns was paid $228,391 in salary and benefits and filed expenses of $19,832.38

Director of finance Susanne Thompson was paid $198,743.

Mayor Lisa Helps said Victoria uses the Capital Regional District, Delta, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Port Coquitlam, North Vancouver District, Saanich and Richmond for comparison when setting senior management salaries.

“So we’re within the 85th percentile of those ones. We don’t compare ourselves with Esquimalt and Oak Bay because they [are smaller and] are not good comparators,” Helps said.

 

The salary and benefit totals of Johnson, Zworski, Jenkyns and Thompson increased by between 11 and 17 per cent over the previous year. Helps said that reflects payouts for vacation time not used: “It’s not [salary] increases. It’s just one-time vacation payouts.”

 

The head of Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge project, who is not a city employee, billed more than $300,000 for his services in 2016.

Jonathan Huggett, brought in as a consultant in 2014 after the project’s contractor submitted a change order for an extra $7.9 million to complete the “fixed price” project, was paid $303,087 for his services last year.

Huggett is not listed with other employees earning more than $75,000 a year. Instead, the amount paid to him appears in the Statement of Financial Information accounts paid section under JR Huggett Co.

Helps said Huggett’s total includes things such as disbursements for flights. “It’s still taxpayer money, but all of those other things are included in that $300,000.”

 

Salary and benefits paid to Victoria Fire Department employees making more than $75,000 totalled $12,420,684.

 

In all, remuneration paid to those in the city (union and exempt staff) earning more than $75,000 totalled $29,527,095. For those earning less than $75,000, the total was $28,599,970.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

 

The article goes on to reveal other top municipal salaries - - 

 

Saanich:

(CAO) Paul Thorkelsson         $249,828

(ex-CAO) Paul Murray            $124,019 (following a severance package of over  

                                                                          $400,000)

 

Esquimalt:

(CAO) Laurie Hurst                 $190,284

 

Oak Bay:

(Deputy Fire Chief) Don Roskelley   $184,593

(CAO) Helen Koning                $174,063

 



#30 spanky123

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Posted 06 August 2017 - 04:09 PM

^ So every senior staff member referenced in Victoria had a significant amount of unused vacation time that they all asked to have paid out in 2016 but not in prior years?

 

If every muni decides to pay its staff at the 85th percentile of each of the others then that makes for pretty good circular inflation. How about paying at the average of the others?


Edited by spanky123, 06 August 2017 - 04:10 PM.


#31 Kungsberg

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 07:24 AM

Hard to know which thread to put this in:

"Staffing Up @ Victoria City Hall" ?

"Victoria City Hall jobs" ?

         or even

"Municipal Property Taxes" ?

or one of the "Amalgamation" threads ?

 

http://www.timescolo...ners-1.21660538

 

Victoria city staff among region’s top civic earners

 

Victoria city senior staff remain among the top civic earners in the region, according to recently released financial information.

 

City manager Jason Johnson was the city’s highest paid official with $274,977 in salary and benefits in 2016 and $8,193 in expenses.

Next highest was city solicitor Tom Zworski, at $238,329 in salary and benefits.

 

 

Deputy city manager Jocelyn Jenkyns was paid $228,391 in salary and benefits and filed expenses of $19,832.38

Director of finance Susanne Thompson was paid $198,743.

 

The head of Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge project, who is not a city employee, billed more than $300,000 for his services in 2016.

Jonathan Huggett, brought in as a consultant in 2014 after the project’s contractor submitted a change order for an extra $7.9 million to complete the “fixed price” project, was paid $303,087 for his services last year.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

 

The article goes on to reveal other top municipal salaries - - 

 

Saanich:

(CAO) Paul Thorkelsson         $249,828

(ex-CAO) Paul Murray            $124,019 (following a severance package of over $400,000)

 

Esquimalt:

(CAO) Laurie Hurst                 $190,284

 

Oak Bay:

(Deputy Fire Chief) Don Roskelley   $184,593

(CAO) Helen Koning                $174,063

 

Pay for 13 councils more than double the amount for larger Surrey

 

http://www.timescolo...rrey-1.21698458

 

Greater Victoria property taxpayers paid a total of just over $2 million in salary and expenses for the 91 part-time mayors and councillors in the region’s 13 municipalities.

 

The figure is more than double the $826,000 paid for the nine-member council in Surrey which, with a population of 403,131, is larger than Greater Victoria, population 367,770.

 

A review of financial documents from each municipality shows local taxpayers paid $1.94 million in salary and benefits and about another $217,000 in expenses in 2016 for mayors and councillors.

………

“I think if you were to compare the [municipalities in] the Capital Regional District and Surrey you would see that they are far more efficient in their delivery of services in Surrey than the capital region is,” said former Victoria councillor Shellie Gudgeon, newly elected chair of Amalgamation Yes. She said that the concern her organization has is not necessarily with the 91 elected officials but with the 13 bureaucracies that support them.

 

[Article reduced by admin - please only post a couple of paragraphs from copyrighted news materials]

 

============

 

The article doesn’t mention CRD salaries, but presumably those costs should also be added in to how much Greater Victoria is paying to ‘govern itself’.


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#32 Mike K.

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 07:39 AM

Yup, same old song.

 

Remember how we voted at the ballot in 2014 on whether or not to pursue the amalgamation issue? How much has been accomplished since then? Not very much.


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#33 Nparker

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 07:47 AM

...Remember how we voted at the ballot in 2014 on whether or not to pursue the amalgamation issue? How much has been accomplished since then? Not very much.

And it never will be accomplished because no one wants to relinquish power in their individual fiefdoms.



#34 LJ

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Posted 08 August 2017 - 07:53 PM

And no one wants to be associated with Victoria, in it's present state.


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#35 Nparker

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Posted 03 May 2018 - 07:33 AM

I sure wish I was allowed to vote myself an increase every time tax changes cut into my bottom line  :mad:

 

Capital Regional District directors could be getting a raise next year to offset losses from pending federal tax changes...

http://www.timescolo...hift-1.23289398



#36 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 03 May 2018 - 07:38 AM

Absolutely.  And all CRD employees, even the rank and file, should get a $10,000/yr. increase if they own vacation property in the speculation tax area too.


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#37 Bob Fugger

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Posted 08 January 2019 - 10:06 AM

Well this is interesting: https://www.boyden.c...4889545#content.

 

It appears that Victoria is headhunting for a Head of Public Works.  According to the job description, the position reports to the General Manager of Engineering and Public Works and is a "Director-level role."  OK.  However, going to the City's website, the Engineering & Public Works Department is overseen by a Director (Fraser Work).

 

So to recap:

 

There will be a new Head of Public Works.  Who reports to the General Manager of Engineering and Public Works.  Who in turn reports to the Director of Engineering and Public Works.  How much of a property tax increase are they talking about, again?

 

:mad:  :mad:  :mad:


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#38 spanky123

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Posted 08 January 2019 - 11:03 AM

Well this is interesting: https://www.boyden.c...4889545#content.

 

It appears that Victoria is headhunting for a Head of Public Works.  According to the job description, the position reports to the General Manager of Engineering and Public Works and is a "Director-level role."  OK.  However, going to the City's website, the Engineering & Public Works Department is overseen by a Director (Fraser Work).

 

So to recap:

 

There will be a new Head of Public Works.  Who reports to the General Manager of Engineering and Public Works.  Who in turn reports to the Director of Engineering and Public Works.  How much of a property tax increase are they talking about, again?

 

:mad:  :mad:  :mad:

 

Is it a new position or a replacement?



#39 Bob Fugger

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Posted 08 January 2019 - 11:16 AM

You know, I considered that.  I think it has to be a new position.  Let's have a look at the facts and the logic:

 

Head of Public Works - appears to be in charge of public works and nothing to do with Engineering.

General Manager of Public Works - to whom the Head of PW reports and fulfills a "Director-level role"

Director of Public Works & Engineering - existing position

 

So the Head of Public Works wouldn't be replacing either of the two positions, as it appears to have nothing to do with Engineering.  There appear to be two positions related to Public Works & Engineering: a General Manager and a Director.  The only replacement that could happen is of the Director of Public Works & Engineering, as the others have been established as positions in the job posting.  However, a "General Manager" replacing a "Director" is in government-speak a downgrade - and so I doubt that that has occurred.

 

No, I think that this is a new position focused only on Public Works.  I would suspect that they would also be hiring a Head of Engineering, unless that department is so small (unlike Public Works) that it directly reports to the General Manager.


Edited by Bob Fugger, 08 January 2019 - 11:17 AM.


#40 spanky123

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Posted 08 January 2019 - 11:17 AM

Could be. Sometimes a job title or role gets changed when someone leaves though. Will be interesting to see if the departmental budget reflects an increase in headcount.



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