Of 1,390 City of Surrey employees who were paid a base salary of more than $75,000 last year, 706 were paid more than $100,000 – not including benefits and expenses – and 18 of those were paid a base salary of more than $200,000.
This is in a corporate report approved by city council on Monday, June 24.
According to the report, City Manager Rob Costanzo was the highest paid, with a base salary of $318,257.70 plus $55,799,39 in benefits and $7,938.79 in expenses.
Twelve employees were paid more than $10,000 in expenses. One employee who was paid a base salary of $93,302.03 in 2023 was also paid $45,846.94 in expenses, followed by $44,095.90 in expenses for an employee with a base salary of $54,946.50; $28,951.85 in expenses for an employee with a base salary of $49,508.97 and $27,469.24 in expenses for an employee who was paid $170,404.92 in 2023.
The report, presented by Kam Grewal, Surrey's general manager of finance – whose base salary in 2023 was $285,203.69 plus $59,891.96 in benefits and $1,320.24 in expenses – indicates the total number of employees making a base salary of more than $75,000 were together paid $146,972,866.43 in base salaries, $14,331,219.01 in benefits and $1,241,809.01 in expenses.
Employees making less than $75,000 in 2023, all told, were paid $83,851,353.99 in base salaries, $3,696,150.45 in benefits and $281,998.98 in expenses.
The City of Surrey's total employee payroll in 2023 came to $230,824,220.42 in base salaries plus $18,027,369.46 in benefits and $1,523,808.19 in expenses.
In comparison, of 1,343 employees who were paid more than $75,000 in 2022, 620 pulled in six-figure base salaries and of those, 17 made more than $200,000 not including benefits and expenses. That report, also by Grewal – who pulled in a salary of $271,449.69 in 2022 – indicated that for the year ending Dec. 31, 2022, these City of Surrey employees were together paid $215,267,904.29 for that year, with $23,759,588.65 in taxable benefits and "other," and $1,309,239.75 was chalked up in expenses.
Meantime, council members also approved a report on their own remuneration for 2023, to the tune of $1,144,810. The nine members together received $876,051 in base salaries, $81,559 in "separation allowance," $75,230 in benefits and $111,979 total in expenses.
Because elected officials aren't eligible for the Municipal Pension Plan, the City of Surrey provides a separation allowance in lieu of that, now at a rate of 9.1 per cent of their compensation, which is paid out when they leave office.
Mayor Brenda Locke topped the list, with $164,006 as her base salary, $15,269 in separation allowance, $14,710 in benefits and $14,998 in expenses.
Once again, as in 2022 and 2021, Coun. Linda Annis topped the list for Surrey's highest paid councillor with a base salary of $89,067, a separation allowance of $8,292, $7,565 in benefits and $17,297 in expenses for a grand total of $122,221.
Next up is Coun. Pardeep Kooner (base salary $89,067, separation allowance $8,292, benefits $7,565, expenses $13,282 for a total of $118,206) followed by Coun. Doug Elford (base salary $88,950, separation allowance $8,281, benefits $7,565, expenses $13,080 for a total of $117,876), and then Coun. Rob Stutt (base salary $88,950, separation allowance $8,281, benefits $7,565, expenses $12,375 for a total of $117,171).
Fifth on the list is Coun. Mike Bose (base salary $89,067, separation allowance $8,292, benefits $7,565, expenses $11,627 for a total of $116,551), followed by Coun. Harry Bains (base salary $88,927, separation allowance $8,279, benefits $7,565, expenses $11,161 for a total of $115,932), then Coun. Gordon Hepner ( base salary $88,832, separation allowance $8,270, benefits $7,565, expenses $9,635 for a total of $114,292) and finally Coun. Mandeep Nagra (base salary $89,185, separation allowance $8,303, benefits $7,565, and expenses $8,525 for a total of $113,578).
Kooner remarked that a councillor, whose name she didn't reveal, who "hasn't travelled that much for any conferences, had significantly higher expenses, actually more than the mayor themselves, who's travelled to many conferences and Ottawa on behalf of the City.
"So I think it's really important that we make sure that what we register for are events that we actually go to," Kooner said. "I don't think it's appropriate to register for an event and not show up.
"I think we need to be more prudent with what we register for and be more careful with taxpayer dollars."
