City has 75 on sunshine list

The City of Thunder Bay had 75 names on Ontario’s sunshine list in 2009, up 16 over its 2008 total, it was revealed on Wednesday by the provincial government.

The Public Sector Salary Disclosure list is released each year by Ontario’s Ministry of Finance and documents public-sector employees who earn more than $100,000 in annual salary.

The 2009 municipal rolls were topped by city manager Tim Commisso, who took home $210,746 last year. Commisso took over the position in late September 2008 and thus did not make last year’s list.

Thunder Bay Police Services chief Robert Herman is the next highest earner, taking in $194,411, up $12,320 over 2008. That represents a 6.7 per cent increase. Next up are his deputy chiefs. Retired deputy chief Ronald Gillies earned $164,642, while current deputy chief J.P Levesque earned $153,198, $12,561 more than he earned the year before. That’s a 6.9 per cent bump for Levesque, who assumed his new duties on July 1, 2009.

Transportation and works general manager Darrell Matson leads the salary parade of city administration staff. He earned $144,202 last year, about $9,000 more than he did in 2008.

Next up is development services manager Mark Smith at $138,996, up $10,000 over his previous year’s earnings and about $5,000 more than a trio of administrators, including city solicitor Rosalie Evans, community services manager Greg Alexander and finance manager Carol Busch, each of whom earned $139,024.


They were far from the highest takers from the public trough in Thunder Bay, however.

That title once again went to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre president and CEO Ron Saddington, who made $373,289, $54,663 more than he did in 2008, a 17.1 per cent hike. Saddington has announced he’ll be leaving his post and the hospital is already looking for a successor.

His counterpart at St. Joseph’s Care Group, Tracy Buckler, made a more modest $291,149, although that represents a $37,896 raise, a 15 per cent boost.

On the educational front, outgoing Lakehead University president Fred Gilbert was paid $272,890 last year, up about $6,700 and Confederation College president Pat Lang earned $275,994, $16,468 better than she did in 2008. That’s a 6.3 per cent increase.

The region’s provincial politicians showed plenty of fiscal prudence. Minister of Northern Develoment, Mines and Forestry Michael Gravelle (Lib. Thunder Bay-Superior North) earned $165,851 for his efforts, just $1,228 more than he did a year ago, while Bill Mauro (Lib. Thunder Bay-Atikokan) got $133,626, $1,395 more than 2008.

Overall about 10,000 more Ontarians joined the sunshine list in 2009 over 2008, an 18 per cent increase.

Former Ontario Power Generation president and chief executive officer Jim Hankinson topped the list at $2.15 million, thanks to a generous departure package. Second in line was Art Gallery of Ontario chief executive Tom Mitchell, with $1 million in earnings.

Ontario Hydro and OPG had more than 10,000 workers combined on the list.