Top local bureaucrats are pocketing big raises and benefits. Some taxpayers are fed up
Ontarians paid $66M plus $1.3M in benefits to CAOs and city managers last year
Ontario's top municipal staffers are pocketing sometimes exorbitant benefits packages on top of high bumps in their salaries, provincial pay data shows — and some critics say that's out of touch with regular Ontarians struggling to keep up with the high cost of living.
As municipalities across Ontario draft and vote on their 2025 budgets, CBC News looked at how much chief administrative officers (CAO) and city managers earned according to Ontario's latest disclosed public sector salaries database — also known as the Sunshine List of salaries above $100,000.
CAOs and city managers are the top administrators bridging elected councils and municipal staff — an increasingly complex job for which municipalities may be spending more to retain and attract quality candidates, according to an association representing municipal managers.
But property owners like Frank Johnson are tired of footing the bill for ever-growing staff salaries.
"We're a little bit fed up," said Johnson of Tay Valley, Ont., a township of about 6,000 people southwest of Ottawa.
WATCH | Criticism of pay, benefits as 'out of touch':
He's one of several residents who contacted CBC and whose property tax bill was slated to rise by about 11.5 per cent next year — the fattest tax hike in the township's recent history. According to draft budget documents, staff salaries are the top reason for that increase.
Johnson noted Tay Valley's CAO, who's also the town clerk, was paid $164,599.09 last year, and has been receiving annual salary bumps of between 10 and 13 per cent since 2020.
"It was a huge increase in a year when things are very tight for everybody," Johnson said.
From Ontario's database, CBC pulled anyone with CAO or city manager as part of their title, and the data doesn't include any top bureaucrats who may have earned less than $100,000.
Across Ontario, taxpayers funded more than $66 million toward the salaries of CAOs and city managers in about 350 of Ontario's 444 municipalities in 2023, and about $1.3 million toward their benefits.
CBC's analysis of the data reveals while many of the steepest changes in compensation — like a 143 per cent raise or a 58 per cent pay cut — may be linked to promotions, retirements, job transitions and exit payouts, some top bureaucrats consistently received raises of tens of thousands of dollars.
CBC also noted a handful of former CAOs were paid despite not working, and some received benefits packages worth upward of $60,000 yearly.
The highest earner was the City of Toronto's city manager at $433,981.12. At the bottom of the list, the CAO of La Vallee Township, with a population of about 800, made $100,798.74.
"We're all astonished," said Johnson, calling the Tay Valley tax hike "excessive."
Tay Valley Reeve Rob Rainer wrote in an emailed statement he can't comment on individual employees' compensation, but noted the township has since reduced the proposed tax hike to about 7.4 per cent — still the highest since 2006.
Rainer explained that figure is primarily due to "long overdue staff wage increases" that were necessary to remain compliant with the Ontario Pay Equity Act, as well as increasing costs for Ontario Provincial Police.
"And, compensation for employees is now more competitive with similar rural municipalities," Rainer wrote.
Despite the explanation, Johnson still has concerns.
"At some point, somebody has got to say stop," he said.
Meet the top earners
More than 80 other top staffers received double-digit percentage bumps last year, according to data. More than half of all CAOs and city managers saw pay hikes above 2023's inflation rate of 3.9 per cent, and about half were above Ontario's 2023 average wage increase of 5.1 per cent.
Among them, the median salary was about $175,000.
While the highest-paid staffers were mostly from big metropolitan centres, one CAO in a town of roughly 35,000 people was among the top earners last year: After 18 years in the job, the now retired CAO of East Gwillimbury earned a total of $386,824.72.
Asked about his high earnings, the town said it doesn't comment on the pay of individual employees.
Another CAO got paid by two towns last year as he transitioned between jobs. Caledon's CAO, formerly with the Town of Erin, made $386,690.43 from both towns, also placing him near the top of the list, just above Mississauga's city manager at the time.
The Town of Erin, where taxpayers paid him $268,027.08 — a 28 per cent jump in compensation from 2022 that included more than $14,000 in benefits — confirmed the change was largely due to vacation and payouts for banked time.
It really creates what I sometimes call a tale of two Ontarios.- Jay Goldberg, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The County of Middlesex's CAO had one of the highest benefits payout at $64,575.19, on top of his $245,947.76 salary.
According to Ontario data, he's received more than $300,000 in benefits alone since 2017. The county didn't disclose what those benefits entailed, but noted his compensation was negotiated and approved by council in 2017.
Markham's CAO also took home some $35,856.70 in benefits last year. In the job since 2011, he received more than $400,000 in benefits alone. The city declined to comment on the CAO's benefits.
Economist and former associate deputy minister of finance Don Drummond reviewed the data and noted a pattern of higher compensation for staffers in larger municipalities, and lower pay associated with smaller ones — but pointed out "notable exceptions in both directions."
For example, Greater Madawaska, a township of only about 3,000 people, paid its former CAO $287,357.14 last year, a 111 per cent increase from her previous compensation. The town's current CAO said her predecessor left in April 2023, but did not comment on the context behind the increase.
Drummond noted the increases are "all over the place," making it difficult to generalize, but he said some are expected given recent inflation. He said some municipalities might also be playing catch-up for their staffers who suffered real wage losses.
"But still, that should not lead to very large increases," Drummond said, adding very large changes in either direction may be due to changes in employment conditions.
"With such a wide range of compensations, it comes down to the basket one chooses to compare to."
CAOs face tough challenges, says association
David Arbuckle, executive director of the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO), said municipalities are facing growing challenges recruiting and retaining skilled staff — especially CAOs and city managers who have a "very complex role" juggling political awareness, governance, financial management and community relations.
"It's not a nine-to-five job," Arbuckle said. "Municipalities may have to pay more in order to get that experience in the door."
He also likened the position to a sports manager who's "hired to be fired" with each election. Arbuckle says would-be CAOs may enter into contract negotiations to build in risk contingencies, which may also contribute to higher pay.
"At the end of the day, an investment in that senior bureaucrat is really an investment in community building," Arbuckle said.
But taxpayer advocate Jay Goldberg said in some cases, such high compensation is "very hard to justify no matter how much work" bureaucrats are taking on.
Goldberg said the data shows local governments may be "out of touch" with average Ontarians struggling with the high cost of living.
"When you look at some of the salaries ... the fancy compensation packages ... it really creates what I sometimes call a tale of two Ontarios," said Goldberg, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
He said households in smaller townships are hit disproportionately hard through "significant" tax hikes, like in Tay Valley.
"No matter how you slice it, this is a load that is being placed on taxpayers," Goldberg said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
