The number of people working for the City of London who made over $100,000 last year grew to 400.
That's according to a report going to the Corporate Services Committee next week. The report discloses the number of municipal employees, without naming them, who made six-figures in 2015.
Despite a drop in numbers, the London Professional Fire Fighters Association continues to dominate the list with 251 members. That's down from 2014, when 269 members of the firefighters union made the list.
The biggest spike in top earners came from city hall management which saw a 10% year-over-year increase and a roughly 30% rise over the past two years. Last year, 142 city managers earned $100,000, compared to 129 in 2014 and 107 in 2013.
However, City Manager Art Zuidema says there has actually been a lower increase in the number of employees added to the list year-over-year, in the past four years.
"We had 21 additional employees on the list as we move from 2012-2013, as we move from 2013-2014 we had 22 additional members on the list, and then as we move from 2014-2015 we now have an additional 13," he says. "The rate of the increase year-over-year has lowered.
"Of those 13 that are now on the list, five of those management employees were on there because they worked a lot of extra time during our work disruption last summer," says Zuidema. "The other eight who got onto the list, got onto the list by virtue of various pay outs that our program allows for. It could be that they had some sort of a wage settlement, perhaps they did get an increase in terms of their position with additional responsibilities, or in some cases they may have been paid out for a vacation that they were entitled to."
Also included on the list are four employees who are members of the London Civic Employees Local Union No. 107, one employee who is a member of Service Employees International Union Local 1 Canada, one Tourism London employee, and one London Convention Centre employee.
The staff report indicates an employee's "salary" includes salary paid in the calendar year and, if applicable, amounts paid for acting pay, overtime, retroactive payments, settlements or vacation.
"What we do on a regular bases is ensure that our salary points are based in the appropriate place to other municipal comparators," says Zuidema. "We want to ensure that we are providing good value to the taxpayer and that similarly we are also offering appropriate amounts to be competitive in bringing in candidates."
Names of public sector employees earning $100,000 or more will be made public before the end of the month when the province releases the annual so-called "Sunshine List."
Figures from London police are not included in the report going to committee. Those numbers will be released through the Police Services Board during Thursday's meeting.