Role Model

Some friends in West Vancouver are setting an example that ought to be followed by citizens in every municipality. Think in particular, Richmond, Nanaimo and Vancouver, just for starters.

They are carefully monitoring the way their council is spending tax dollars. Needless to say, the revelations are shocking.

What follows below (without the graphs referred to) is their latest from the wealthiest postcal code in the nation:

DWV "municipal muffin munificence" continues apace. In 2007, from one supplier alone, District tax-payers paid $127.67 per working day to purchase muffins and such for our employees, up from $122.30 the previous year. It could be more if other catering outfits are billing the District less than the $25,000. per year threshold and thereby staying below the FIA radar. I doubt these "freebie"goodies are being consumed by the unionized clerical staff and outside workers.

Ah, to be a senior bureaucrat at DWV municipal hall. It's "Fat City" and not simply because of the free muffins! According to the District's "schedules of remuneration" for the years 2002 to 2007, eleven senior managers have received increases in remuneration totalling, on average, 39% over the past five years, or 7.8% per year. These eleven management positions were chosen because they involve the same individuals in the same positions over the subject time period.

The spreadsheet accompanying the graph provides a glimpse into what our senior municipal employees are being paid. My understanding is that these figures are exclusive of the senior employee benefit package, now apparently close to 35%, not to mention auto allowances and the like.

As for the overall picture, in 2007, the District had 134 employees on its payroll who each received in excess of $75,000. in remuneration. The figures for each of 2006 and 2007 are exclusive of WVPD employees. ITAC has requested the number of police department employees who received in excess of the threshold amount in each of the past two years, together with the aggregate cost to the public purse of such individuals. This information will be shared with you upon receipt.

To put things in perspective, in 2000, the DWV had only 41 individuals on its payroll, including police, who received in excess of $75,000. in remuneration, for a total cost of just over $3.8 million. By 2005, these numbers, including police, had ballooned to 139 employees at a total cost of $12.8 million. In a mere seven years, this is a 339% increase in the number of employees receiving over the $75,000. threshold and a 337% increase in the total cost of such employees to the tax-payers.

In 2007, exclusive of WVPD members, the District had 134 such employees, at a total cost to the tax-payers of $11.5 million. Further, it appears that, in 2007, the top 13% of DWV income-earners took home fully 29% of the total remuneration paid to District employees. This is up from the previous year during which the top 15% of income-earners took home 25% of the total remuneration. A disturbing trend-line.

Clearly, the District's fiscal incontinence needs to be addressed. Given that 80% of the District's operating costs are evidently employee remuneration and benefits, and given the percentage of this cost represented by senior managers and supervisory personnel, it seems obvious where one ought to look first for cost-savings. A leaner management team ought not only to have no negative impact upon the provision of municipal services, it will in all likelihood improve the quality of such services by empowering non-management employees to make more decisions and be more flexible.

Interestingly, last autumn, after a few weeks on the job, VanCity's new CEO, a woman who had previously been a highly successful BC Deputy Minister of Finance, reduced 28 management positions in her company to nine. This is the sort of action that so urgently needs to be taken at DWV municipal hall.

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