Staffing costs continued to rise last year for the city of Port Coquitlam, which paid close to $27 million in base salaries and benefits, according to the recently released 2013 remuneration report.
The annual Statement of Financial Information Report, which was made public Monday, showed that of the 460 full- and part-time staff, 129 people earned $75,000 or more in remuneration last year while 45 earned $100,000 or more. At the top of the list was PoCo's chief administrative officer, John Leeburn, who earned a base salary of $194,460 plus $5,079 in benefits (plus $7,467 in expenses).
Other top earners included deputy fire chief Alan Nicholson ($183,513 in salary and benefits) and former director of engineering Andrew Wood ($180,690), who left the city this year. Parks and recreation director Barry Becker earned a total of $179,701 in pay and benefits while development services director Laura Lee Richard earned $173,441.
The city's director of finance, Karen Grommada (seventh on the list with a base pay of $127,545 and $19,749 in benefits and other compensation), said some of the base salary totals include retroactive pay, after the city signed labour contracts with the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the PoCo Fire Fighters Association.
Last year's schedule of remuneration showed the city spent $25 million in staff salaries and benefits, up from the $23.8 million spent in 2011.
Council pay and expenses were also outlined in the document. Each councillor was paid $34,151 in base salary by the city while Mayor Greg Moore earned $88,024; Moore also receives a $71,000 annual stipend from Metro Vancouver as chair of its board.
Expenses varied among PoCo's elected officials. Moore led the table with $4,811, followed by councillors Darrell Penner ($4,314), Mike Forrest ($3,917), Glenn Pollock ($2,967), Michael Wright ($1,959), Dean Washington ($1,080) and Brad West ($900).
TOP 10 LIST: PORT COQUITLAM
The top-paid Port Coquitlam staffers in 2013 (figures include salary and benefits):
STAFF MEMBER POSITION TOTAL REMUNERATION
John Leeburn chief administrative officer $207,006
Alan Nicholson deputy fire chief $183,513
Andrew Wood director, engineering $180,690
Barry Becker director, parks and rec $179,701
Laura Lee Richard director, dev't. services $173,331
Nick Delmonico fire chief $166,159
Karen Grommada director, finance $149,729
Terry Hochstetter deputy fire chief $144,524
Randy Minaker deputy fire chief $143,376
Siu Tse dep. director, engineering
and operations $138,598
