Over 500 municipal employees in London made $100,000 or more last year, and most of them were firefighters.
According to figures heading to the Corporate Services Committee next week, 539 city workers made the so-called Sunshine list in 2017. The list consists of 347 members of the London Professional Fire Fighters Association (LPFFA), 180 city hall managers, ten unionized employees, and one employee each from Tourism London and the London Convention Centre.
In 2016, only 256 firefighters made the list. The bump in the number of firefighters earning $100,000 or more is attributed to last April's settlement of the longest contract dispute in Canadian firefighter history. It took more than six years of bargaining between the LPFFA and the city to reach the deal. The 2011 to 2016 salaries of LPFFA employees were previously understated. The latest staff report reflects updated salaries and retroactive payments for the group.
The city is required under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act to publicly report any worker whose salary and taxable benefits total at least $100,000 in a calendar year. An employee's salary can include amounts paid for acting pay, overtime, retroactive payments, settlements or vacation.
The staff report does not include the names or salary details of the top earners with the city. Those will be included when the Sunshine List is published around the end of the month.
London police don't appear on this report as their salaries are reported through the police services board.