THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay’s Sunshine List membership continues to grow.
In 2023 the municipality reported 639 employees who earned $100,000 or more, the threshold required to be revealed on the annual Ontario public sector salary disclosure report.
That’s 51 more than the 588 reported by the city in 2022.
The province revealed the list late last week.
Thunder Bay’s top paid employee last year was acting police chief Dan Taddeo, who hauled in an impressive $376,428, more than $107,000 more than city manager Norm Gale, who took in $269,129 last year.
A dozen city employees earned more than $200,000 in 2023, a list that includes five police officers, including Deputy Chief Ryan Hughes, who earned $236,730, Thunder Bay Fire Rescue Division Chief Dennis Brescacin, who made $208,380 and a trio of city managers – Karen Lewis, Kerri Marshall and Kelly Robertson, who were paid $201,033 apiece.
Newly hired Police Chief Darcy Fleury, who took on the role last spring, earned $197,307.
The City of Thunder Bay staffers didn’t come close to topping the local highest paid public sector list.
That honour belongs to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre CEO Rhonda Crocker-Ellacott, who was paid $445,511 in 2023, one of just two local earners to cross the $400,000 threshold. In total there were 776 hospital employees on last year’s list. That's 18.8 per cent more than the $375,000 she earned in 2022.
St. Joseph’s Care Group’s director of senior medical addictions and mental health John Haggarty took in $403,878 last year, a 1.7 per cent decrease in from the $410,638 he earned in 2022.
St. Joseph’s list included 10 employees who made $300,000 or more, though not former CEO Kelly O’Brien, whose pay topped out at $280,579. O’Brien, who arrived in Thunder Bay in 2021, departed the hospital organization last September, replaced by Janine Black, who earned $227,517 in 2023.
St. Joe’s had 203 employees top the $100,000 mark.
That’s slightly more than half the 392 staffers at Lakehead University who wound up on the Sunshine List, a group topped by former president Moira McPherson, who earned $354,999 last year.
Twenty employees made more than $200,000 last year.
At Confederation College, 162 employees made $100,000 or more in 2023.
President Kathleen Lynch earned the most on the list, coming in at $254,247, one of just two employees who made more than $200,000 last year.
At the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, 19 employees were on the list, led by chief medical officer, Dr. Janet DeMille, who earned $326,733.
Lakehead Public Schools had 267 employees on the salary disclosure list. Director of education Sherri-Lynn Pharand was the highest paid, earning $249,829, about $3,000 more than her Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board counterpart Pino Tassone, who made $246,872.
Tassone was one of 354 Catholic board workers who earned more than $100,000 in 2023.
