Castlegar city hall’s payroll rose about $300,000 between 2020 and 2021, but the city saved a few thousand dollars in council salaries due to a couple of vacancies.
According to the city’s annual statement of financial information, the city paid just over $5 million to its employees last year, compared to $4.7 million the year before.
Twenty-nine employees made more than $75,000 in 2021, compared to 28 the previous year, while 14 made $100,000, up from five a year earlier. Part of the difference was due to increases to several staff who were previously just below the $100,000 threshold.
These were the top paid staff last year:
| Name | Position | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Barlow | Chief administrator | $165,054 |
| Ola Oladele | Chief financial officer | $141,783 |
| Sam Lattanzio | Fire chief | $137,771 |
| Tracey Butler | Corporate services director | $136,043 |
| Duane Monson | Deputy fire chief | $133,690 |
The same five employees were the top paid in 2020, although in a different order.
On the elected officials side, the city paid out just under $128,000 to mayor and council in stipend and expenses, down from about $135,000 the previous year on account of the resignation of mayor Bruno Tassone and subsequent resignation of councillor Florio Vassilakakis to seek the mayor’s seat in a byelection. In April 2021, Kirk Duff was elected mayor and Brian Bogle was elected to fill Vassilakakis’ seat.
| Name | Position | Salary | Expenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno Tassone | Mayor | $3,867 | – |
| Kirk Duff | Mayor | $20,133 | $1,384 |
| Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff | Councillor | $16,000 | $829 |
| Cherryl MacLeod | Councillor | $16,000 | $185 |
| Maria McFaddin | Councillor | $16,000 | $185 |
| Bergen Price | Councillor | $16,000 | $397 |
| Dan Rye | Interim mayor/councillor | $22,400 | $2,422 |
| Brian Bogle | Councillor | $8,667 | $185 |
| Florio Vassilakakis | Councillor | $3,333 | – |
| Total | $122,400 | $5,387 |
(Heaton-Sherstobitoff’s expenses were originally listed at $2,129, but council corrected the error before adopting the report last week.)
Council recently appointed a committee to review their pay in time for the October municipal election. The base rate for the mayor is about $36,000, and for councillors it’s $16,000 each.