City directors and managers, the fire chief and the city’s lawyer were some of the top-paid employees in Richmond in 2020, according to documents released to the public this week.
Meanwhile, compensation for council members – with the mayor’s salary at about $178,000 – was close to what their counterparts in Burnaby were earning.
The highest-paid Richmond city employee was George Duncan, the chief administrative officer, who earned $325,490 and received $38,414 in benefits.
In comparison, Burnaby’s city manager, Lambert Chu, who retired in March, earned $291,484 in salary and $29,666 in benefits in 2020.
The Richmond Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report was published as part of Monday’s council agenda package and it includes salaries of all employees earning more than $75,000 at the city.
Twenty-six Richmond employees earned more than $150,000 in 2020. (There were about 900 city employees listed in the SOFI report as earning more than $75,000 in 2020.)
When salary and benefits are combined, Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie earned about $203,000, while his counterpart in Burnaby, Mike Hurley, earned about $204,000 in salary and benefits.
Richmond councillors in the meantime, made almost $81,000 in 2020, while Burnaby councillors earned about $78,000.
Coun. Chak Au, however, had a substantially lower salary, about $71,000, since he waived a large pay increase in 2019 after the federal government cancelled a tax exemption for council members that was one-third of their salary.
The pay increase in 2019 was implemented across many municipalities.
According to city spokesperson Clay Adams, salaries are influenced by the role and responsibilities of a given position, experience, complexity, union contracts and the market.
“Overall, salaries are determined in keeping with policies approved by council,” he explained.
Staff are encouraged to take vacation time but, if not possible, it can be banked and paid out.
“Such payments are for earned and entitled leave and all are funded so there is no financial risk to the city,” Adams added.
Top-paid Richmond employees*:
George Duncan, CAO $325,490
Joe Erceg, GM, planning & development $239,338
Andrew Nazareth, GM, finance and corporate services $239,338
Anthony Capuccinello Iraci, city solicitor $224,974
Cecilia Achiam, GM, community safety $224,754
Serena Lusk, GM, community services $220,167
John Irving, GM, public works & engineering $215,405
Timothy Wilkinson, fire chief $185,453
Wayne Craig, director, planning $178,899
Grant Fengstad, director, IT $177,161
Laurie Bachynski, director, human resources $175,986
*This is just salaries and doesn’t include benefits
- with files from the Burnaby Now
