The sun keeps on shining for those on public payroll

WOOLWICH AND WELLESLEY TOWNSHIPS contributed seven members to a list of people on the public dime who earned more than $100,000 in 2017.

Across the province, the list – which includes doctors, nurses, teachers, police and firefighters in addition to civil servants – includes 131,741 names, up 6.8 per cent from 123,410 in 2016. Combined, they were paid salaries and benefits that total more than $16.8 billion.

The provincially mandated salary information, known as the Sunshine List, was released last week.

In Woolwich, chief administrative officer David Brenneman was the highest paid of township employees, taking in $150,028.96. Director of engineering and planning Dan Kennaley, was paid $116,106.76, while director of finance/treasurer Richard Petherick received $116,106.76. Director of recreation and facilities Ann McArther got $101,966.25, clerk Val Hummel was paid $109,168.70 and acting manager of engineering Jared Puppe received $101,813.50.

In Wellesley, chief administrative officer Rik Louwagie was paid $121,307.89 as the township’s lone member of the club.

The Region of Waterloo has 311 employees on the list, while the police contributed 641 names.

Across the region, 5,022 people made the list, many of them at the University of Waterloo (1,450), Wilfrid Laurier University (603) and Conestoga College (104).

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 $151,929 today.

But even using the inflation adjusted amount, there are 19,922 government employees on the Sunshine List. That’s a 335 per cent increase, while the population during the same time period has grown by about 31 per cent.

Average weekly wages for workers in Ontario are $974, which amounts to $50,600 per year. That includes overtime pay, and assumes no weeks off, amounting to just half of the Sunshine List threshold.