By Mark Squibb/August 19, 2022
In light of a recent ATIPP request, the City of Mount Pearl announced it has released salaries for all City staff – including striking CUPE members — going back to mid-2020.
“The City of Mount Pearl has chosen to exercise proactive disclosure in response to an Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPP) request received last month for the earnings of all City employees, including wages and overtime,” explained Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley during last week’s meeting. “And as a municipality we remain open and transparent to our taxpayers and as such as made the decision to proactively disclose all wage information.”
Kieley said the City released the gross pay, including total pensionable earnings and total additional earnings for 2020, 2021, and 2022 year-to-date.
However, only part of 2020 is reported, said Kieley, due to a switch to a new payroll system and reporting limitations within the prior system.
“As stated previously, Mount Pearl has a competitive and attractive total compensation package, and we value the work of all employees,” said Kieley.
Documents released by the City show the Director of Engineering & Sustainable Development, the City’s highest paid employee, earned a gross income of $117,606 from January 1 until July 26, 2022. Two other City employees earned over $100,000 in gross income by July 26, 2022: The CAO earned $108,333, while the Director of Recreation & Community Safety earned $107,178.
If you do a search of those positions on the City’s website, you may not find them exactly as recorded on the payroll documents. This is because, according to City staff, the City restructured its departments in 2022. So, for example, the position listed on the payroll document as Director of Engineering & Sustainable Development is listed on the website as the Director of Planning, Engineering, and Development. The website, said City staff, has the accurate position titles.
In 2021, the Director of Engineering & Sustainable Development earned $203,974, the Director of Recreation and Community Safety earned $185,314, and the CAO earned $154,561.
The documents show in 2022 show hourly wages for public works staff and some office staff, including accountants ($32.76), lead hand mechanics ($36.12), mechanics ($34.39), recycling collectors ($30.43), lead hand water and sewer workers ($34.39), water and sewer workers ($30.43), equipment operators ($30.43), arena attendants ($29.18), animal control officers ($29.33), lifeguards ($22.89), and others. The document details whether the position is part time, full time, and temporary, or seasonal.
Councillor Jim Locke suggested the City disclose employee wages on an annual basis.
Mayor Dave Aker noted many salaries are in the $20 to $30 an hour range, and that most employees work about 37-and-a-half hours a week.
Director of Corporate Services Cassie Pittman agreed that office workers typically work 37-and-a-half hours, while the majority of public works and full-time aquatic employees work 40 hours.
“So, then you can add on to that over time and you can add on to that as well another 20 to 25 percent for benefits,” noted Aker. “Both the deputy mayor and councillor Locke referred to the fact that some of the cost that the City bears is not just the wages that go to our employees, but what we call payroll burden, the City’s share of the matching contributions for pensions as well as for health and dental. And we have other things we pay as well. We pay shift premiums and the shift differentials and overtime.”
Aker then asked what typical overtime rates were.
Pittman explained that anything over 40 hours a week would be double time.
“So, for example, if a member of the public works team gets called in on the weekend, typically that would be a double time call out,” said Pittman. She then circled back to Aker’s comments about total cost compensation. “We worked in about a 37 percent increase, so, in addition to wages, our total cost of compensation is 37 precent higher than wages to account for things like our pension contribution, benefit contribution, and total cost of employment.”
Aker asked Pittman about wage increases.
“I don’t think our management staff have had any increase in the last two years; what has been the increase given to CUPE the last four years?” asked Aker.
“This contract, 2018 to 2022, was a four percent overall wage increase,” said Pittman. “So, the most recent increase would have been July 2022, which was a two percent on the tail end of this currently expired agreement. We’ve been in a manager wage freeze for the last two years, so our management wages have been frozen, as we attempted to work with some challenges on the City’s revenue stream.”
Aker said that up to 2022, the City’s wage increases have outpaced inflation rates.
Councillor Bill Antle applauded the disclosure but noted that salaries of council members were not included. He asked that those salaries, including council expenses, be included.
“As councillors or as mayor, we don’t get a pension,” added Antle. “I want to make sure that that’s clarified in this piece of information.”
