Number of $100K earners at city soars to 417

The two top earners at city hall in 2015 are no longer working for the city – in fact three of the four people to top the list are no longer on the job at the city.

According to the annual Sunshine List, which discloses public-sector salaries that exceed $100,000, former CAO Doug Nadorozny was the highest paid municipal employee last year, even though he was let go in April 2015.

Nadorozny took home $379,979.75, along with $3,400 in taxable benefits. The amount presumably includes severance pay, considering Nadorozny's salary in 2014 was $223,374, plus $9,372 in benefits.

Second on the list is Lorella Hayes, the city's former chief financial officer who left earlier this year to take a similar post with Greater Sudbury Utilities. Hayes took home $218,473.37 in salary along with $8,922.27 in benefits.

Next on the list is Police Chief Paul Pedersen, who was paid $211,409.44, plus 12898.60 in benefits, followed by the city's former GM of community development, Catherine Matheson ($206,171.60 salary, $8,223.84 benefits). Matheson has since taken a post with the Northeast LHIN.

Rounding out the top 10 are police CAO Sharon Baiden ($206,162.32 and $12,841.20), Deputy Chief Al Lekun ($206,162.32 and $12,841.20), Tony Cecutti, the city's GM of infrastructure ($197,802.79 and $8,181.95), Tim Beadman, the former chief of fire paramedic services ($186,307.60 and $8,123.32), and Bob Johnston, the CEO of Greater Sudbury Airport ($176,127 and $2,859.78).

The number of $100,000 earners at the city has soared since 2014. A total of 417 people made six-figure incomes at Greater Sudbury in 2015. That compares to 296 a year earlier, 247 in 2013 and 197 in 2012.

Also notable were the raises several senior staffers received. Hayes took home a salary of $167,077 in 2014, a one-year increase of $51,396. Cecutti's salary increased more than $21,000 in a year. Beadman's salary went up by a similar amount.

Baiden's salary increased by $16,000 while Lekun saw a bump of more than $12,000.

Ontario's Public Salary Disclosure Act requires groups that receive funding from the province to release the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year.

The act is the legacy of former Tory Premier Mike Harris, who passed the law 1996. It applies to provincial employees, Crown agencies, municipalities, hospitals, public health boards, school boards, universities, colleges, Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation, and other public sector employers who receive a significant level of funding from the provincial government.

The province's full public salary disclosure list can be found here.