Steep increase in city managers earning more than $150K in Kamloops, Kelowna

There are almost a hundred city hall managers taking home more than $150,000 a year between the Thompson-Okanagan’s two largest cities. Five years ago there were less than 20.

The list has grown over the years with hundreds of people included as salaries across union employees and management increases. Just five years ago, Kamloops and Kelowna had a combined 18 managers taking home more than $150,000 each.

In 2025, that tally increased to 82 people.

While top bureacrats like Kamloops CAO Byron McCorkell and Kelowna city manager Doug Gilchrist have taken home more than $300,000 for several years, the share of those nearing or over $200,000 has grown.

In Kamloops, 33 people in management were paid more than $150,000 last year, and 10 of them earned more than $200,000. In 2021, there were just eight people above the $150,000 mark, with five of them paid more than $200,000.

There are 114 people in management positions at Kamloops city hall earning more than $75,000. Fourteen of them earn less than $100,000, so the vast majority are earning an income between that and $150,000.

The same goes for Kelowna where 55 people in management are earning less than $100,000 on a list of 246 people.

Kelowna, a larger city with a far larger budget, paid more than $150,000 to 49 managers in 2025, with 12 of them earning more than $200,000. In 2021, 10 people earned more than $150,000 and five were above the $200,000 mark.

Some of those include administrators in each city’s fire department, and it’s not clear how much of those $150,000-plus salaries include overtime and emergency operations duties.

Most, however, are managers throughout each city’s various departments like planning, utilities, parks and public safety.

Penticton and Vernon, meanwhile, don’t have nearly as many highly-paid employees when compared to the larger two cities. Penticton had 12 managers earning more than $150,000 in 2025, and just three of them took home more than $200,000. Vernon paid more than $150,000 to 19 employees, with four earning more than $200,000.

Local governments are required to release annual financial reports, so-called sunshine lists, showing all its employees earning $75,000 or more.

The sunshine lists were mandated in 2000, but the income threshold hasn’t changed in that time. Over more than two decades, the $75,000 mark would now be equal to around $126,000, according to a Kamloops city staff report.