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Ecowrappin'
THE SUNSHINE LIST
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
This terminology comes from a local newspaper article.I find the name given to this listing of people, the apparently much more fortunate among us, rather intriguing, and somewhat ironic. These people are indeed fortunate, and in this case the term fortunate surely has to be derived from fortune. You see these are the people, largely public servants of some fashion, who make over $100,000 a year. I say make; I hesitate to use the term earn!
If you make over $100,000 per year it must be equivalent to being blessed with constant sunshine, hence the name. No worries, cares or dark clouds on your financial horizon!
Every municipal jurisdiction in this fair province will have a list like this, shorter or longer depending on the size of the jurisdiction and the number of institutions or edifices that it may contain. The figures for 2009 for some of those on the list in my small city are as follows:
Outgoing Deputy Police Chief Over $216,000 plus over $5,000 in benefits
Incoming Deputy Police Chief Over $201,000 plus nearly $16,000 in benefits
Chief of Police Nearly $180,000 plus nearly $21,000 in benefits
The explanations as to why the Deputies received more than the Chief were 1) the outgoing deputy got paid for all his unused vacation time and accumulated unused sick time; 2) the incoming deputy had to cash in all of his outstanding vacation time and start anew. Poor guy!
Chief Administrative Officer for the City Nearly $221,000 plus over $5,000 in benefits.
The City has 105 employees on the sunshine list compared to 101 the year before.
The Royal Victoria Hospital has 38 employees on the sunshine list compared to 23 the previous year.
Hospital President/CEO Nearly $286,000 plus over $39,000 in benefits
Senior VP/Chief Financial Executive Nearly $232,000 plus over $29,000 in benefits
According to the newspaper article, the CEO take “rose marginally from just over $277,000 in 2008. $9,000 is one hell of a good annual salary increase for most people! The Senior VP salary jumped from nearly $190,000 the year before. Nice jump! Re the benefits---there are quite a number of people in this jurisdiction that would like to have a gross annual income of $39,000---quite a few that would be pleased with $29,000!
And then we get to the Community College. It has 78 employees on the list compared to 41 the previous year, almost a two-fold increase!
College CEO/President Over $277,000 plus around $1,500 in benefits
Vice President of Administration Over $ 179,000 plus around $1,100 in benefits
Note the very significant difference in benefits compared to the amount of benefit sunshine that the police, city and hospital officials are basking in.
And now we get to those other major drains on the taxpaying public, the school boards.
The County District School Board has 128 employees on the sunshine list compared to 131 in 2008. Wow! A reduction, but for how long?
Director of Education Over $176,000 plus under $2,000 in benefits
The Catholic District School Board has 93 on the list compared to 67 the year before---the sunshine really broke through here in 2009!
Director of Education Over $192,000 plus less than $1,000 in benefits
The District Health Unit has 9 employees on the list, headed up by the Medical Officer of Health at nearly $264,000 plus under $1,000 in benefits.
Now remember, these are 2009 figures. It will be interesting to see how much brighter the sun shines on these people, and how many more make it out of the darkness in 2010. Also note that figures for fire services were not given in the newspaper article. The cost of fire and emergency services in this small city were slightly less than half of the cost of police services in 2008. Police services were nearly one quarter of the total budget. Explain that please!
As one who will always be in the dark, with a lot of company I might add, I find these salaries and many of these benefit figures rather outrageous, if not obscene. By and large these benefactors are public servants, living well by way of the tax burden on a majority who toil away in relative darkness and obscurity. Those living off (in?) the public purse should be more accountable to their paymasters. Cut the take of those making over $200,000 per year by half; cut those making $150,000 - $200,000 by 30%; and those making $100,000 - $150,000 by 25%; and you would likely be much closer to the realm of reality as far as a fair wage for results and responsibility are concerned. It would be much easier for those of us left out of this exclusive little, but rapidly growing, world of perpetual sunshine to stomach; those of us who pay most of the freight.
Now just suppose that these high salaries and benefits could be rationalized, if not justified. There is no doubt that many of these high rollers have worked their way up through, if not just appointed into, the system over a tenuous course of time and effort. I suspect some in the $100,000 to $150,000 bracket have earned their position and are still earning their keep. I can accept and appreciate that. But one thing galls me. Members of my immediate family and I are regularly being solicited through the mail to financially support local health and education initiatives; usually new or expanded facilities or the acquisition of special equipment. How about taking some of my tax dollars away from excessive and outrageous administration costs and applying them to these things that are more in the public interest; and of more real value to the public at large?
Twice in the last three months I have been telephoned, once by the police and once by the firefighters, to support a specific cause. These are good and worthwhile causes, and I do not mind helping out. And it is easy---just name the amount and provide your credit card number. A confirmation package will come in the mail about a week later. Security risks aside, this seems to be a new way of generating philanthropic support at the municipal services level. This is all well and good, until you read the Sunshine List and realize the reason why your standard of living, along with that of many of your cohorts, is lacking a little year by year.
Health and education have long been the culprits in excessive tax burden but municipal services are rapidly catching on and catching up. Record budgets are set year after year for these services, but it is never enough. They always want more and more.
I expect the Sunshine Lists among the Provincial Ministries is just as outrageous. Extravagant salaries and benefits tap off a goodly percentage of those well-publicized allocations to worthwhile initiatives and projects. Resources renewal and tangible conservation projects generally fall at the bottom of the list and they make due with what little scraps they can scrounge.
Your locale should have a Sunshine List of its own. Have a look at it---you may be enlightened. Prepare to get angry!
I was born on the Bruce Peninsula on July 20, 1951 and raised on a farm just south of the village of Lionís Head, which is located about halfway up the peninsula on the Georgian Bay shoreline. I graduated from Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Barrie in 1973 as a Resources Engineering Technologist. I was hired by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) in April of 1975 as the first DUC employee in Ontario. Throughout almost 29 years I was involved with the implementation of more than 500 wetland projects and project complexes in southwestern and south central Ontario. Some of these habitat projects included important waterfowl and migratory bird habitat along the eastern shoreline of Lake St. Clair. Just three weeks short of completing 29 years with DUC, I accepted an early retirement opportunity effective March 31, 2004.
