What did that Sunshine list tell us about some of the talent at city hall - that they are expensive

By Jim Portside

April 7^th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

More on that Sunshine List.

The Sunshine List was first released in 1996; it shows Ontario public sector employees earning $100,000 or more. The $100,000 threshold has not changed since 1996. Using the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, $100,000 in 1996 is the equivalent of $185,017 in today’s dollars.

People who made over $200,000 in 2024.

Here’s a list of the top income earners for the city of Burlington, people who earned over $200,000 a year in 2024. The 2023 list contained 15 names. The 2024 list also contains 15 names, it’s great that the number of people stayed the same. Some of these people do a fantastic job for the city.

What’s most interesting about the above list is that three of the 200K club members no longer work for the city.

Tim Commisso’s LinkedIn profile indicates he left the city in April of 2024. Sheila Jones – March 2024. Brynn Nheiley – March 2024.

You can read more about Brynn and Sheila’s departures here:

What did these three people cost taxpayers?

The calculations are approximate, but about $600,000 in severance or, in the case of Tim Commisso, payment to the end of his contract went out the door in 2024 for these three people. Mayor Meed-Ward often talks about the city needing funding from other levels of government; $600,000 buys at least one MRI machine for Joseph Brant Hospital.

Here are some other interesting items from the Sunshine List.

The Sunshine List doesn’t tell us when someone started or left the city’s employ. With that in mind,I looked at all the people who were on both the 2023 and 2024 Sunshine Lists. The average salary increase for this group was 4.31%.

The number of people working for the city and making over $100,000 a year increased by 10.5% to 505. The 2022 list contained 393 names, and the 2023 list contained 457 names.

Of the roughly 1,112 full-time employees, 505 now earn over $100,000 per year.

The 2024 list includes 15 people with the job title “Transit Operator”, up from 9 last year. Keep in mind that this includes overtime.  There are 4 people with the job title “Mechanic” and 3 people with the title “Officer, Animal Control”, up from 1 last year.

The six elected councillors had an average income of $118,876.64, down slightly from an average of $119,802.70 in 2023. Councillors over the age of 71 earned less, only making $117,321.96 a year. Councillor Sharman has fought hard to have this corrected, and we’ll see a bump for the senior councillors, Sharman and Bentivegna, in 2025. The municipal employee pension plan, OMERS, has a rule that people over 71 have to start collecting their pension.

A total of 51 people saw their total earnings, salary plus overtime, increase by at least 10%. Only 23 of these people had changes in their job titles.

We’ll have to wait another year to see if Sheila, Tim or Brynn make it onto the 2025 Sunshine List.

Jim Portside is a retired business man who has lived in Burlington for several decades