Fifty staff working for the Town of Collingwood in 2020 received salaries above $100,000.
The Town of Collingwood has released its list of top-earning staff ahead of the province publishing the annual “Sunshine List.”
Since 1996, public sector organizations (including municipalities) have been required to disclose the salaries, names, and positions of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year. The disclosure has been dubbed the Sunshine List.
The top earner in Collingwood for 2020 was the town’s lead staff member, Chief Administration Officer (CAO) Sonya Skinner, whose salary is listed as $216,752.75 plus $3,220 in taxable benefits.
Former CAO Fareed Amin is also on the 2020 list with a salary of $104,233 plus taxable benefits at $9,200. Amin resigned as CAO in 2020 and left his full-time role in April.
The next top earners were Clerk Sara Almas, and former treasurer, Marjory Leonard. Each made $153,823 plus $1,388 in benefits in 2020.
The deputy clerk, Becky Dahl, made the list with a salary of $111,462 plus $611 in benefits in 2020. Collingwood Library CAO Ken Haigh was also included at $118,620 plus $1,184 in benefits.
There are four staff directors on the list including the director of public works, engineering, and environmental services, Peggy Slama ($143,187 plus $4,177); former director of marketing and business development, Martin Rydlo ($142,499 plus $1,324); director of planning and building services, Adam Farr, ($146,616 plus $1,347); and acting executive director of customer and corporate services/ director of parks, recreation and culture, Dean Collver ($161,099 plus $1,430). Collver has held two lead staff positions for some of 2020.
Both the chief and the deputy chief building officials are on the list with the chief, Greg Miller, receiving $128,723 plus $1,221; and the deputy chief, Brian Bell receiving $109,051 plus $554.
There are 24 staff from the Collingwood Fire Department on the list including the fire chief, Ross Parr; the deputy fire chief, Dan Thurman; four captains, 16 firefighters, first class; a training officer; and a fire prevention inspector.
The remaining staff on the list include managers, supervisors and senior staff from, the library, the IT department, the building department, the parks and recreation department, finance, human resources, public works, fleet and facilities, planning, the library and environmental services.
Collingwood’s 2020 budget was approved at $93.3 million. The operating portion of the budget (which is where salaries would fit in) was approved at $59.9 million.
Salaries are spread across the various departments where staff work. The 2020 budget included a breakdown of the operating budget showing 21 per cent of the budget for general government, 20 per cent for transportation, 16 per cent for parks, recreation, and culture, 14 per cent for police services, 13 per cent for fire services, five per cent each for planning and library, and the remaining six per cent for other.
Members of the Collingwood and The Blue Mountains OPP are employed by the OPP and are therefore not included on the town’s disclosure list. Teacher and principal salaries are disclosed by the board of education, and the County of Simcoe also releases its own list annually.
The Town of Collingwood disclosure for 2019 included 48 individuals with an average salary of $126,421 and a total salary paid of $6,068,205.
The total of all the salaries included on the town’s disclosure list of 50 staff for 2020 is $6,164,760, with an average salary of about $123,300.
Since the Sunshine List was established in 1996, the threshold for disclosure (salaries of $100,000) has not changed. According to the government of Ontario website used for Sunshine List disclosure, the Canadian Consumer Price Index has increased by 50 per cent between 1996 and 2018. If the original threshold established in 1996 followed inflation, the 2018 Ontario list would be reduced by 85 per cent (from 151,040 people in 2018 to 23,208 people).
