FILE PHOTO - Kelowna City Hall

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The City of Kelowna’s annual Statement of Financial Information shows that 525 employees working there made more than $75,000 in 2021.

That’s about half of its workforce.

That’s up from 482 last year and 449 the year before.

“The total employee remuneration for 2021 increased by 6.3 per cent, or approximately $5.1 million, to $85.1 million,” states a report going to city council on Monday. “This increase can be attributed to the return of full-time, part-time, casual and student staff not on the payroll or with reduced hours in 2020 due to actions taken to address pandemic conditions; an average of 2 per cent in wage and salary increases with the remainder the result of increased staffing to ensure continued service levels to a growing city.”

As usual the city manager was the top earner.

Doug Gilchrist was paid $306,371, up 5.6% from the $289,128 he was paid last year.

Once again, deputy city manager Joe Creron was the second highest earner at $209,680. That’s up from the $206,891 he was paid in 2020 despite the fact that his LinkedIn page says he left the city in June 2021 and is now interim CAO in Peachland.

Airport director Sam Samaddar was, again, third on the pay list at $202,002, a 7.3% increase.

READ MORE: Kelowna city manager tops list of city hall salaries at $289K

All local governments have until the end of June to list employees who earned $75,000 or more during the previous year.

That list includes 134 firefighters, 10 more than last year and 156 managers, up nine from last year. The rest were members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

There were 91 managers who were paid more than $100,000 and 101 firefighters. Of the union employees, only 14 earned more than $100,000. The top union employee was a roadways foreman who earned $114,125.

Mayor Colin Basran was paid $110,986 with expenses of $10,696.

Half the city councillors were paid $37,972 and the other half $38,322.

Between all eight of them, councillors were paid $555 in expenses with Gail Given getting $475 and Ryan Donn $80.

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