Peggy Revell
The Rainy River District Social Services Board wants to be perfectly clear: its CAO did not receive a 20 percent pay hike last year.
According to the annual list of public-sector employees who earn more than $100,000, released by the Ministry of Finance earlier this month, Donna Dittaro’s salary appeared as $113,252.31 in 2008 and then $135,063.07 in 2009.
But DSSAB chair Michael Lewis stressed this figure does not take into account the listed taxable benefits for Dittaro, which decreased from $21,517.93 in 2008 to $1,362.72 in 2009—and ultimately also counts as money received.
Lewis said this change stemmed from the new contract the DSSAB recently negotiated with Dittaro, and the recent switch in benefits structure for all non-union DSSAB employees as of October, 2009.
When this is factored in, Dittaro’s raise from one year to the next actually calculated out to roughly 1.2 percent, he remarked.
“All sorts of circumstances” can explain why certain public-sector employees appear on the “sunshine list,” or appear to have salary increases or decreases from year to year, Lewis noted.
“The numbers are accurate, but it doesn’t explain why those numbers are such,” he said.
“For most people, it’s straightforward, but for some—like a municipal employee who got a retirement gratuity, or vacation pay, or someone who retired in that retiring year and it goes up, and they may not even be close to the $100,000.”
“Similarly, we have somebody who works for us here in finance, who worked at a different organization before she came here, and that year she was on the ‘sunshine list’ for making over $100,000,” said Dittaro, citing an example.
“Well, it’s because they paid out her vacation, her sick days, and that.
“A lot of times, you’ll see people on [the list] who leave organizations,” Dittaro continued. “It will look like, ‘Oh my gosh, they got huge raises’, but they didn’t get huge raises, it’s because they had their vacation pay.
“That happens all the time in organizations.”
Dittaro also noted there are paramedics and nurses all across the province who get on that list because they work a lot of overtime.
As well, the way the “sunshine list” is set up, it’s possible for employees who ultimately are making more than $100,000 to be excluded from the list, Lewis cautioned.
For example, at one point Dittaro’s salary was below the $100,000 mark. But when taxable benefits were added in, the total amount came to more than $100,000, he explained.
“But the law says you don’t report anything until the salary reaches $100,000,” he stressed. “So once she reached $100,000, suddenly this in lieu benefits shows up [as well].”
Dan Belluz, who chairs the Rainy River District School Board, acknowledged the board has seen an increase in wages over time, including those for administration who make it onto the “sunshine list.”
“[Salaries have] continually risen over the prior years, and a lot of it has to do with the provincial contract with the teachers associations and everything else,” Belluz noted.
“And our administration has got the same [percentage] increases in wages as all the union staff all over the years,” he added.
Topping the list for the local public school board include former Director of Education Jack McMaster, who, since taking the administrative helm back in 2005, saw his salary rise from $141,909 in 2006 to $179,822 last year.
Meanwhile, former Superintendent of Education Heather Campbell (who was named the new education director last week) saw her salary rise from $106,278 in 2006 to $135,259 in 2009.
In her role as Superintendent of Business, and formerly as Chief Financial Officer, Laura Mills’ salary has grown from $102,433 in 2002 to $140,928.00 in 2009, including an increase of more than $10,000 between 2008 and 2009.
“We have the control [over the wages of administration] but to be fair, we give our non-union staff the same increases that we give our union staff,” Belluz said, noting the province has increased its funding accordingly.
“When you look at the full story—when you look at the wages of what a janitor makes as compared to a school teacher, as compared to a supervisory officer, as compared to an accountant, as compared to a director—and it’s all in scale. That is the scale,” Belluz argued.
“We really can’t expect to pay a director less than a high school teacher makes.
“The responsibility goes along with the salary.”
But current legislation before the provincial government would see the freezing of all non-union government employees, which includes board staff, for the next two years, Belluz added.
While the Northwest Catholic District School Board administration saw similar increases in salary in 2009, the board chair Anne Marie Fitzgerald could not be reached for comment prior to press time.
As for Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig, whose salary appeared on the list as $120,673.69 in 2008 and then up to $132,486.77 in 2009, Mayor Roy Avis said the jump came as a part of his negotiated contract.
McCaig is “supported by mayor and council with the salary that he has,” added Mayor Avis, although he declined to comment further.
While many on the list saw salary increases in 2009, Wayne Woods, CEO of Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc., was among a few in the district whose salary dropped—from $245,417.38 in 2008 to $228,000 in 2009.
This is a reflection of how Woods’ annual pay is calculated based on the formula set out in his contract, explained Riverside board chair Craig Sanders.
This formula is based on a comparison of Riverside’s facilities to others of the same size across the province, with salary based on the 25th percentile/median—which is why from year to year the amount has gone up and down, Sanders noted.
Expertise and responsibility also are a reason why the salaries for administration at Riverside are what they are, Sanders added, pointing out Woods’ position includes running four facilities, with an annual operating budget in the millions of dollars.
“It’s not a small operation to run,” he stressed.
“I think it’s difficult for the public to understand how these things are set,” Sanders acknowledged about the high salaries, but added what’s happening when it comes to salaries in this area is a reflection of what’s happening in Toronto.
“In Toronto, it’s a whole other world than what’s happening here,” he remarked. “But in order for us to employ competent staff, we have to compete with what’s happening in Toronto.
“It’s the same with the doctor situation—we have to compete with elsewhere in order to attract doctors here.
“In order to get highly-competent people, you have to pay the kinds of salaries that are being paid in larger centres,” he argued, noting this applies to the various public sectors, not just health care.
“Somehow the numbers seem awfully big,” Sanders admitted.
“But when you put it in the context of what’s being paid in eastern Ontario, and what these people could earn if they went to eastern Ontario, then if we want to have any competent administrators, then we have to compete with the larger picture,” he reasoned.
