Perusing the Public Purse

Report shows who spent your tax dollars in 2008

Last Friday saw the release of the City of Victoria’s Public Bodies Report—an annual requirement under the province’s Financial Information Act—which looks back at where taxpayer money went in the year that was and how City staff were paid to keep the municipal wheels in motion.

According to the 2008 report, 16 City employees cracked the $100,000 mark, an increase of three over the previous year. Moving up the pay scale into the big money were parks and recreation director Kate Friars, finance director Brenda Warner and firefighters Vern Starling and Paul Bruce.

Deputy city manager Mike McCliggott was the top earner of the year, having assumed the duties of former city manager Penny Ballantyne who took a six month leave of absence during a time of family crisis before her January resignation. For his increased labours in Ballantyne’s absence, McCliggott was rewarded with a healthy $170,890.53—$22,000 more than in the previous year.

The creation of a municipal communications department to manage City Hall’s messaging served communications director Katie Josephson well, bumping her annual salary up by more than $23,000. Finance director Brenda Warner’s promotion to chief bean-counter netted her a raise of more than $60,000.

A change in reporting requirements meant the number of employees earning more than $75,000 dropped from 102 to 85 in 2008, but only because taxable benefits were not included in the calculation as they had been in previous years.

Total payroll for the City of Victoria increased by approximately $300,000 over the previous year and now stands at $43,498,309.03.

The 2008 report highlights once again that the glass ceiling has yet to be shattered at City Hall, as only 22 of the 85 $75,000-plus employees were women (that’s 26 percent). However, there is near-parity in the City’s executive strata, with almost equal numbers of men and women occupying the top posts.

Apart from idle hours washing the trucks, being a fire fighter seems a pretty good gig, as 31 of the $75,000-plus crowd are in the business of smoke and flames.

Data on police salaries was once again unavailable, as the province has asked municipalities to refrain from publishing remuneration information related to local police forces in their annual accounting.

Victoria has a well-deserved reputation for commissioning reports and studies, and 2008 was no exception. The Public Bodies report shows a bevy of consultants were contracted for City work. These included George Cuff ($46,818.07) for his report on the city’s governance structure, Coriolis Consulting ($63,800) for its work on the Victoria harbour pathways initiative and Donald Luxton and Associates ($149,062.12) to update the City of Victoria’s heritage properties register. Vancouver’s Sheltair Group was also paid $103,184.44 to help craft the City’s sustainability framework.

Former City planning manager Joe Daly obviously made the right decision when he left behind his $91,000 City paycheque in 2007, because in 2008 he walked right into a nice $121,548 landscape architecture contract to redesign Centennial Square.

2008 also proved that good art doesn’t come cheap. The financial report shows that first nations carver Clarence Dick billed the City $114,177.39 for costs associated with his Spirit Pole to mark the entrance to the newly renovated Centennial Square and other carvings. The Jack Gibson Gallery billed the City $108,584 for costs associated with seven bronze castings for the Signs of Lekwungen art project.

And then of course there are the incidentals. According to the report, the City of Victoria spent $68,357.71 on dry-cleaning over the course of the year. The City also spent $50,3438 at the QV Bakery and Cafe.

Citizen spenders

Not surprisingly, former Victoria mayor Alan Lowe was the top earning elected official of 2008, taking in $47,478 in compensation and billing the City $15,660.98 for expenses incurred on the job. This was down from $56,953.44 in 2007 due to his shortened work year.

Councillor Chris Coleman retained his crown as largest work-related spender, amassing $6,583.27 in expenses on top of his $21,640 remuneration.

Fiscal prude Geoff Young lost his crown as the least extravagant local politician to the now-retired council veteran Helen Hughes, who billed taxpayers only $1,349.50 in expenses. For his part, Young spent $4,248.65, approximately $3,000 more than in the previous year.

The cost of paying the government-appointed members of the Victoria Police Board more than tripled in 2008 from approximately $15,500 in 2007 to around $54,000.

Board member Katherine Mick was the only member to hit the remuneration ceiling, drawing compensation of $8,000 for her attendance at police board meetings, while accumulating $1,482 in expenses.

Police board member Ken MacLeod was the next runner up, taking $7,450 in remuneration and charging $2,091 in expenses.

Released in conjunction with the Public Bodies report was the City’s Annual report, a document containing its financial position and a record of its accomplishments over the year. These reports tend to read like a brochure for prospective employees so are often more interesting for what is not contained in them.

For example, amid the colourful pictures of City staff and citizens enjoying municipal facilities, nowhere is there a photo of the one group that has dominated municipal discourse over the past year—the homeless.

Chiefly Hangover

Exorcising Battershill’s ghost

The spectre of ousted Victoria police chief Paul Battershill continued to haunt City Hall throughout 2008 according to the City’s public bodies report.

The department took a shellacking last year not only on the Battershill file and the infighting it exposed, but also on high-profile police misconduct allegations, like the force’s illegal search-and-seizure techniques on Canada Day.

But rather than undertake a serious assessment of its internal workings, the department opted instead—at interim chief Bill Naughton’s urging—for a “rebranding,” as the marketing world likes to call it.

When the gunsmoke cleared, the Victoria Police Department emerged as the VicPD with a fresh look but the same baggage.

The City’s 2008 public bodies report shows that local consulting firm Acumen Communications Inc. was paid a healthy $125,951 to help the force compile a strategic plan to put their best foot forward when it was time to go before City Council to request a $3-million budget increase to meet its recruitment needs. According to Acumen’s website, the firm was responsible for the VicPD’s “strategic communications” and “reputation management.”

“The new police chief wanted a way to convince his civic bosses and by extension, the rest of the community, that the force had a clear vision for the future, a solid plan to get there and the discipline to deliver measurable results,” brags Acumen’s website. “But to do that, he needed to win over sceptics among the public and within his own organization. So he turned to Acumen to help.”

Acumen’s sister company Redbird Communications was paid $44,865 to come up with flashy graphic treatments to help distract from the force’s underlying problems.

Battershill’s legacy was perhaps manifest in other ways too. The City paid the Ceyssens and Bauchman law firm—specialists in police related matters—$49,887. They also engaged the services of the Vancouver law firm Smart Harris and Martland to the tune of $41,718.40.

Are You Hiring?

Some City staff made top dollar in 2008

Name / Title / Salary / Expenses

• Michael McCliggott / Acting City Manager / $170,890.53 / $7,546.96

• Jocelyn M. Jenkins / Victoria Conference Centre General Manager / $137,703.76 / $11,977.08

• Doug Angrove / Fire Chief / $135,707.11 / $2,916.71

• Peter Sparanese / Engineering Director / $135,707.09 / $3,269.40

• Deborah Day / Director of Planning / $135,707.11 / $1,583.71

• Robert Woodland / Director of Legislative and Regulatory Services /$135,707 / $2,832

• Trina Scott / Human Resources Director / $135,566.51 / $7,293

• Brenda Warner / Finance Director / $135,181.05 / $7,199.28

• Kathryn Friars / Parks and Recreation Director / $133,175.21 / $12,066.09

• Penny Ballantyne / City Manager / $116,313.34 / $2,148.93

• Wendy Zink / Social Planning and Housing Manager / $112,153.15 / $5,283.42

• Stephen Norton / Conference Centre / $112,153.06 / $339.88

• Mark Hornell / Planning and Development Manager / $112,062.33 / $5,278

• Ed Robertson / Assistant Director of Public Works / $105,097.15 / $20,513.41

• Vern Starling / Fire Fighter / $102,016.45 / $3,156.67

• Paul G. Bruce / Deputy Fire Chief / $100,163.60 / $5,647.70