The highest paid employee in 2024 in City of Richmond operations was its former chief administrator who headed up the Richmond Olympic Oval after retiring.
George Duncan stepped back from this position in July 2024, but his salary and benefits came in at $582,240 for the year, according to the latest Statement of Financial Information (SOFI). Duncan's salary was $209,249 and his benefits are listed at $372,991.
The Oval operates as an arm's-length corporation, but city council asked last year to make public salaries from its employees earning more than $75,000.
As for internal city operations, the top paid bureaucrat earned $521,845 in 2024.
The compensation for Joe Erceg, who retired in 2024 as the general manager of planning and development, was a combination of $83,353 in salary and $438,492 in benefits.
According to the city, these benefits can include vacation, paid leave, allowances and other entitlements. The city doesn’t give specifics on what they entail, according to city spokesperson Clay Adams.
The second highest paid employee at the City of Richmond in 2024 was John Irving, who is the deputy CAO. He earned almost $322,000 in salary but also had about $160,000 in benefits last year, bringing his total take-home pay in 2024 to $490,495.
Third on the list is the city’s CAO, Serena Lusk, whose combined salary and benefits came to $462,063.
Councillors earn salaries from board appointments
While Mayor Malcolm Brodie earned about $207,000 for his mayoralty pay, his total pay in 2024, including wages from sitting on regional boards, was $371,927.
For his position on TransLink Mayors’ Council, he earned $58,222, and for his position on the board of Metro Vancouver, he earned $50,694. He also earned $28,211 as chair of the Municipal Financial Authority board.
Coun. Chak Au earned almost $83,000 from his council salary, as well as $13,350 as a director of Metro Vancouver.
Au was elected as a member of Parliament this April. He is not resigning his council seat but he gave up his Metro Vancouver position. He has stated he will donate his council salary to charity.
The base pay for an MP is $211,000 as of April 1.
On top of her $94,000 council salary, Coun. Alexa Loo earned $11,214 for her Metro Vancouver committee appointments. (She has now been chosen to replace Au on the Metro Vancouver board of directors.)
Coun. Bill McNulty also earned his base council pay of about $94,000 as well as $19,758 as a director of Metro Vancouver.
Coun. Kash Heed earned $8,337 for sitting on the board of E-Comm, which dispatches emergency services. A note in the SOFI report states, however, that compensation for his E-Comm role has been suspended as of Jan. 1. This was at Heed's request.
Heed brought a motion forward earlier this year to have all regional salaries reported out in the City of Richmond’s SOFI report, instead of them just being reported in each agency’s own SOFI report.
Highest paid city employees in 2024 (including taxable benefits)
George Duncan (retired CEO, Richmond Olympic Oval): $582,240
Joe Erceg (retired GM, planning and development): $521,845
John Irving (deputy CAO): $490,495
Serena Lusk (CAO): $462,063
Jerry Chong (GM, finance and corporate services): $424,711
Anthony Capuccinello Iraci (city solicitor): $413,891
Elizabeth Ayers (GM, parks and recreation): $371,703
Cecelia Achiam (retired GM, community safety): $355,165
Wayne Craig (GM, planning and development): $340,132
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