How a Chief of police got to earn more than $454,000

By Pepper Parr

April 10th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

When the 2025 Ontario Sunshine list was published, our friends at Focus Burlington did a deep dive into the data and came up with all kinds of surprises.

The amount paid to Chiefs of Police in the province was surprising – the top levels approached the half a million a year stage.

A close look at the list had Halton Region’s Chief third from the top; higher than Hamilton, which didn’t make a lot of sense to us.

Focus Burlington provided details taken from the Sunshine list.

The table shows the staggering increase in pay numbers.

First elected as a Town Councillor in Oakville in 2020 Knoll was made Chair of the Police Services Board in 2020

We turned to the Halton Police Services Board Chair Jeff Knoll for an explanation on hw these pay increases came about. The Police Services Board handles oversight of the Halton Police Service, they hire the Chief of Police and manage contract extensions.

Rob Burton, Chair of the Police Services Board at the time, gave the police chief permission to travel out of the country during the Covid crisis.

Knoll became Chair of the Police Services Board when Rob Burton, Mayor of Oakville, resigned suddenly after giving the Chief of Police permission to travel to California with a partner during the Covid shutdown.  Many were livid over the Chief of Police deciding to travel to look into a personal matter during a crisis that called for an all-hands-on-deck approach.  The police chief did say later that he was “remorseful” over the decision.

We now know that Tanner is in his last contract with the Region – which comes to an end on January 31^st of 2028.  The contract has a 2% annual increase – a fair amount.  Would that other staff members in Burlington were held to that level.

That the Halton Regional Chief of Police was close to the best paid in the province surprised a lot of people.  And that the amount he was paid was shy of half a million dollars was in the mind boggling category.

Getting to Jeff was a challenge – not because he didn’t want to talk but because the Councillors in Oakville don’t have the administrative support those in Burlington have.   We eventually connected

Knoll explains the chief’s high salary — nearly $413,000 in pay and $19,000 in benefits last year for 2025 saying it “reflects a career that spans four decades and his dedication to the role, displayed by continuing to work beyond a date when he was entitled to retire. Tanner’s 2023 compensation included a retroactive salary adjustment of $24,000 for 2019 to 2022.

Knoll went on to say that Tanner is “The longest-serving police chief in the country, bringing a wealth of experience and leadership stability to Halton Region.”

In my interview with Knoll he said that he stands 100% behind Tanner adding that “In 2023, Chief Tanner received an increase in salary and an incremental amount that aligns with the costs that otherwise would be associated with retirement contributions for the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. Chief Tanner’s salary is structured to reflect the savings due to his retirement eligibility.”

Stephen J Tanner was appointed Halton Chief of Police in 2012 .

At one point in his career, Tanner was an officer in Halton and moved on to serve in several communities, returning to Burlington, where he will eventually retire

Tanner had several contract extensions.

He is now expected to retire on January 31^st, 2028

The contract has a 2% annual increase built into it. The actual net salary will undergo adjustment depending on the vacation time taken.

We asked Knoll for some comment on the ever-increasing cost of providing the safety that people in the Region have come to expect.

Things were different after Covid. Knoll said we learned that we needed each other and we unfortunately learned that everyone has a social media platform and can say whatever they like, which led to disinformation.

Policing had to change to keep up with the changes taking place in the communities they are mandated to protect.

Those societies were undergoing huge economic changes that put strains on everyone.

Scams were increasing, harming seniors who were easily taken advantage of. Knoll said that more than 97% of the population behaves; it is the 2 ½% that we have to deal with and technology being what it is – the job isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap.  Add to that,  AI lets people do things that confuse and mislead which makes the job of policing even harder.

Jeff Knoll has been chair of the Police Services Board since 2020.  He is at that stage in his career where a change is being thought about.