FILE PHOTO - More than 140 Penticton city employees made $75,000 or more last year, up by 15 over 2019.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

Wages continued their relentless rise at Penticton City Hall last year.

The city’s Statement of Financial Interest figures, released with this week’s council agenda package, shows the number of employees making the benchmark figure of $75,000 rose by 15 from 126 to 141 in 2020.

Sixty-eighty employees made more than six figures in 2020, with the top three most highly paid breaking the $200,000 level.

Among those were chief administrative officer Donny van Dyk, who earned $250,066.39 along with expenses.

Second on the list was Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson, who received $203,542.31 in remuneration and expenses last year.

Third on the list was general manager of finance and administration James Bauer who took home $200,795.59 in pay and expenses.

A report to council notes: "During the course of 2020 there were several emergency events that caused significant overtime and other events that resulted in remuneration to staff which was subsequently recovered from the province.”

A total of 18 employees were paid more than $1,000 in emergency overtime last year.

Three severance agreements were implemented, which represented 14 months of compensation to those affected.

The total city payroll last year came to $25,533,681, $15,183,763 of which was paid out to those earning $75,000 or more.

Councillors and Mayor John Vassilaki took home a total of $250,332 in compensation and expenses last year, with Mayor Vassilaki topping the list with $83,747 in remuneration and expenses.

Councillors all received at least $27,500 or more in remuneration, with minimal expenses of anywhere from $0 to $400 claimed individually.

The SOFI statement is provided annually to provide consistent and minimum levels of disclosure regarding the city’s financial information. It includes public sector salary disclosure.

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