City of Vernon staff payroll creeps up

VERNON – More is being spent on staff salaries at Vernon City Hall.

Last year, a total of $23,062,464 was spent on gross earnings and expenses for city staff, according to 2016 financial documents. That's roughly $361,500 more than in 2015. 

The City has to disclose salaries for anyone earning more than $75,000 a year. In 2016, there were 107 people on that list, compared to 99 in 2015.

Employees who earned less than $75,000 took home a total of $12,530,380, while the 107 making more than that accounted for $10,532,084 of the total payroll.

The highest paid city staffer is chief administrative officer Will Pearce, who made roughly $204,800 and was paid just over $3,000 in expenses.

Salaries were also revealed for mayor and council. Those costs were down slightly over 2015. Figures show council was paid $233,081 in 2016, which is roughly $1,700 less than in 2015, when they received $234,808.

The highest paid member of council is Mayor Akbal Mund, who received just over $71,000 in remuneration and almost $4,000 in expenses. Councillors earn in the neighbourhood of $22,000 at the low end, to nearly $27,000 at the high end, plus expenses.

Coun. Bob Spiers had the lowest expenses (zero) followed by Coun. Brian Quiring, with just $40. The council remuneration documents also disclose that Quiring’s company, MQN Architects, received just over $600,000 related to work for the Vernon Multi-Use facility expansion, and just over $3,000 for the Recreation Centre garbage enclosure. MQN Interiors Ltd., received $200 for parkade design fees.

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