The number of municipal employees in Sarnia earning $100,000 or more increased in 2023.
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The are 268 names on the latest Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act list, also known as the Sunshine List, city officials reported recently.
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That’s up slightly from 264 names on the 2020 list, after two years of decline. The 2021 list had 255 names, the 2022 list, 246.
The number tends to fluctuate with retirements, new hires and overtime demands, said city corporate services general manager David Stockdale.
First-class firefighters and police officers make more than $100,000, but it takes a few years of service for new recruits to reach that level, he said.
“So each year, as we have retirees go out and new staff come in, obviously the new staff will be below that number,” he said, adding “that number will always ebb and flow.”
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Sarnia has about 630 full-time positions, including fire and police staff, he said.
Having about 42 per cent of the city’s full-time workforce earning mire than $100,000 is likely in line with other cities around Sarnia’s size, he said.
“Because what we aim to do by letter of policy actually is paid at the 50th percentile, which means our compensation structure is set up to be right in the middle of our comparators.”
Police and fire staff account for 220 positions, or more than 80 per cent of the names on the list.
Overtime fluctuates yearly based on things like how many water main breaks the city sees, or the number of complicated police investigations, officials said.
The $100,000 threshold hasn’t changed since the act was introduced in 1996, meaning the inflation-corrected threshold was about $174,000 in 2023, city police said in a release.
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Eleven city workers topped $174,000 in 2023, according to the list.
Deputy police chief Julie Craddock, sworn in last March, made just under that mark.
The top earner in 2023 was Sarnia Police Staff Sgt. Paul Mamak, with $312,090.67.
Police pay, along with overtime, also can include paid duty contracts, where officers take on duties like commercial vehicle escorts or private events off duty, police said in their release.
Total city employment is 681, full-time equivalent, Stockdale said.
That number includes part-time and temporary workers, calculated individually as a fraction of a full-time-equivalent position, he said.
Tea full provincial public salary disclosure list is expected to be published by March 31.
NOTABLE CITY OF SARNIA SALARIES IN 2023
$254,180.92: Chris Carter, chief administrator
$245,037.13: Derek Davis, police chief
$193,897.04: Stacey Forfar, community services GM
$193,897.04: David Jackson, engineering and operations GM
$187,908.78: Bryan Van Gaver, fire chief
$187,592.01: Dale Gartshore, deputy fire chief Dale Gartshore
$181,914.01: David Stockdale, GM corporate services
$173,764.28: Julie Craddock, deputy police chief
$165,292.21: Ken Dwinnell, deputy fire chief
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