100K club grows

The city has hit triple digits for employees making six figure salaries.

The Ministry of Finance’s 2011 Public Sector Salary Disclosure, known to many as the sunshine list, shows 115 City of Thunder Bay employees made $100,000 or more in 2010. That’s up from the 75 people named in the 2010 sunshine list, which disclosed salaries from 2009.

But despite the 115 names, the city’s two highest earners made less money in 2010 than they did the year before.  

City manager Tim Commisso topped the list of municipal employees in 2010, just as he did in 2009. Commisso took home $207,108 in 2010, but that’s $3,638 less than his 2009 earnings.

Thunder Bay Police Services Chief Robert Herman was no. 2 on the list, with earnings of $193,361 last year. That’s a $1,050 drop from the salary disclosed the year before.

The police force’s deputy chief was third on the earners list with $167,565 in 2010 – a $14,367 jump.

The city fire department added 24 new names to the list last year, which accounts for some of the 40 new municipal employees making six figures.

All heads of city administration staff were around $136,000.

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s outgoing CEO Ron Saddington was Thunder Bay’s highest paid public sector employee in 2010, earning $407,457, which is about $34,000 more than he did in 2009.

St. Joseph’s Care Group president Tracy Buckler made $309,000, almost $18,000 more than what she earned in 2009.  

Confederation College president Pat Lang earned $8,202 less in 2009, taking home $267,792.

Lakehead University president Brian Stevenson made $150,000, while his predecessor Fred Gilbert made $172,555.

Minister of Northern Development Mines and Forestry Michael Gravelle’s remained unchanged at $165,851, while his MPP counterpart Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay – Atikokan) made $409 less in 2010 than 2009 with $133,217.

Overall, the list grew by 10,000 in 2010 and now has more than 64,000 public employees on it.