List of municipal fat cats proof 'there are too many people'
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA
Toronto taxpayers shelled out $367,742,045 in $100,000-plus salaries to civic employees last year.
The number of employees in the $100,000-a-year-plus club climbed with around 180 more salaries from City Hall, Toronto Police, EMS, Toronto Fire, the TTC and the Toronto Zoo. In all, 3,183 people working for the city or its various boards and agencies earned more than $100,000.
Former Toronto city manager Shirley Hoy topped the list of big earners, commanding an annual salary of $326,463, plus benefits worth $12,414.
Moving up to the No. 2 spot with an annual salary of $299,861 and $1,634 in benefits was Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, followed by TTC chief general manager Gary Webster, with his salary of $278,576 plus $13,731 in benefits.
Current city manager Joseph Pennachetti earned $266,873 and $13,676 in benefits.
Other big earners included medical officer of health David McKeown ($236,215) and Toronto Zoo CEO Calvin White ($223,781).
"There are just too many people, that's what I've always said," Councillor Rob Ford told the Sun yesterday. "When you amalgamated seven municipalities 10 years ago, you should have decreased the number of employees -- not increased them."
In a press release, the city said 400 of its about 1,500 staffers on the list were due to overtime, standby and retroactive payments.
Councillor Doug Holyday was surprised the number of City of Toronto employees, not including police and other agencies, actually went down from around 1,700 to 1,552.
"I'm very surprised the number is down, and quite frankly, I think that number is worth checking because salaries just don't go down around here," he said.