Police, fire employees continue to dominate Halifax sunshine list

Halifax has released its annual list of public officials who make more than $100,000 a year on the taxpayer’s dime — with members of the municipality’s fire and police services making up more than 80 per cent of the list.

According to an analysis by Global News, 847 Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) employees made the “sunshine list” this past fiscal year.

It’s an increase over figures from the 2016-17 fiscal year, when 568 employees made the list, but a decrease from the 2017-18 fiscal year, with 933 municipal employees on the list.

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The municipality said last year that the increase was the result of new collective agreements that were reached with both the fire and police services.

This year’s list is the fourth time the HRM has pulled back the curtain on its public employees’ finances. The figures include salary and any benefits they used during the time period of April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019.

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Halifax Regional Police and members of Halifax Fire and Emergency Services continued to dominate the sunshine list this past fiscal year.

The municipality’s police force had 415 officers on the list while the fire department had 264 employees. Together they make up 80 per cent of the list.

Halifax’s chief administrative officer Jacques Dubé tops the list with a salary of $278,891.85 combined with $12,349.30 in other benefits. In total, he made $291,241.15 in compensation during the 2018-19 fiscal year.

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The top 10 municipal employees made a total of $2,220,301.38 in compensation.

That includes the now-retired general manager of Halifax Water, Carl Yates, with $265,519.28, now-retired police chief Jean-Michel Blais with $217,738.37 and director of legal services John Traves, who made $230,479.47 in compensation.

The highest elected official on the list is Mayor Mike Savage who made $180,108.61 in salary with no additional benefits.