Pity Jack Lew, President Barack Obama's White House
chief of staff, the highest ranking employee inside the executive office
of the president of the United States.
Earning a paltry $172,200 a year, Lew's salary
pales in comparison to George Duncan, the chief administrative officer
of -- wait for it -- Richmond, B.C., who pocketed a cool $267,613 in
2010/11 for keeping the lights on in that Lower Mainland suburb.
And Duncan's salary isn't even an anomaly.
The chief administrative officers or city managers of cities such as
Delta, North Vancouver (City and District), Kelowna, Maple Ridge, West
Vancouver, Burnaby, Kamloops, Langley City, Pitt Meadows, White Rock,
Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria all earned more than the White House
chief of staff last year, according to the Vancouver Sun's Public Sector
Salaries database.
In fact, according to the 30 cities covered by the Vancouver Sun's database,
116 municipal employees in B.C. earned more than Obama's chief of staff
and 17 of TransLink's top breadwinners pulled in more than poor old Lew
as well.
The overall winner of the B.C. City Hall
Pay Sweepstakes? Penny Ballem, Vancouver's city manager, who banked a
tidy $324,110, nearly double Lew's salary.
Poor Josh, too
And gold-plated municipal salaries aren't just "a big city" phenomenon in B.C.
And gold-plated municipal salaries aren't just "a big city" phenomenon in B.C.
In the Town of Lillooet, the chief administrative officer is
paid $120,316 annually to keep an eye on 2,322 local residents.
Or put
another way: it costs each taxpayer
in Lillooet roughly $110 to keep their CAO living in comfort, not even
taking into account all of the other town employees they must pay for as
well.
Now compare that Lillooet salary to Obama's principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest, described by the Washington Post as a key member of Obama's message team, who makes $123,000 a year at his White House gig and is perpetually a slip of the tongue away from igniting an international incident.?
Still keeping Josh Earnest's pay in mind, consider the plight of Victoria's hard hit taxpayers.
(more)
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