The hiring of additional staff and a scheduled CUPE salary increase pushed Coquitlam’s labour costs up 3.6% in 2018 from the previous year.
Michelle Hunt, the city’s general manager of finance and technology, told The Tri-City News that 40 more employees received T4s last year compared to 2017 for both full-time and casual work. She also noted staff received a scheduled 2% salary increase last year as part of their labour contract.
Adding to the increase was a retroactive payout to firefighters after they settled their contract in 2018 along with a jump in overtime for those who battled B.C.’s wildfires last summer.
“They were deployed for large provincial forest fires last year, where they receive additional overtime,” Hunt said.
Elected officials are also listed in the document.
Councillors who were re-elected last fall earned a base remuneration of $60,465 while the mayor took home $138,928.
Expenses varied depending on the council member. Mayor Richard Stewart had the highest total at $17,262, followed by councillors Dennis Marsden ($12,618), Teri Towner ($9,310), Bonita Zarrillo ($8,864), Craig Hodge ($7,692), Brent Asmundson ($7,137) and Chris Wilson ($7,009).
Newly elected councillors Trish Mandewo and Steve Kim both received $8,143 in remuneration, while Mandewo had $909 in expenses and Kim had $748 in the last two months of the year.
Councillors Terry O’Neill and Mae Reid, who did not run for re-election last fall, received $52,555 in pay while Reid spent $5,311 in expenses and O’Neill $4,612.
Coquitlam’s overall labour costs rose from approximately $100 million in 2017 to $103.8 million in 2018.
During that time, total remuneration paid to em- ployees making over $75,000, including salaries, taxable benefits and contractual payouts, rose from $44.5 million to $45.6 million (a 2.3% increase). The total pay to employees making under $75,000 rose 6%, from $37 million to $39.2 million.
Other remuneration, which includes unused vacation and retroactive payouts from settled labour contracts — for example the 2018 firefighters contract — jumped 18.6%, from $19.3 million in 2017 to $22.9 million in 2018.
Total staff expenses, which includes memberships in professional organizations, conferences, courses and training, was also up 22.5%, rising from $422,331 to $517,288.
• For more information on Coquitlam's city hall labour costs, see: $75k threshold to low for SOFI reports, says Coquitlam councillor.
