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City releases public accounts

The City of Estevan has released the public accounts for 2016. The document shows the wages earned by city staff and management who made at least $50,000 last year, as well as remuneration for city council.

The City of Estevan has released the public accounts for 2016.

The document shows the wages earned by city staff and management who made at least $50,000 last year, as well as remuneration for city council. It also lists contracts and other payments that exceeded $50,000.

The contracts worth more than $50,000 actually accounted for the largest expense, as they amounted to $23,472,740. Those contracts were for capital projects, contracted work such as snow removal, the Municipal Employees Pension Plan that the city pays into each year and other expenses.

“It’s encompassing of anyone that we write cheques to out of our accounting system that equals more than $50,000,” said Ward.

The largest recipient was the South East Cornerstone Public School Division, which received $5,674,287 as its share of the education portion of property tax. The Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division was next, but it received a smaller share of property tax at $1,776,817. Taxpayers are given an option of whether they want their education share of property tax directed to the public or separate school divisions.

A total of seven contracts were worth more than $1 million.

The document shows there were 111 employees and managers who made at least $50,000 last year. Those employees had a combined wage of $8,715,917.

There were 197 other employees who were paid $2,142,898 in 2016.

Total wages paid out was $10,858,815.

City manager Jeff Ward was the top-paid person at city hall last year, as his wage was $152,644. He was also paid $35,000 to serve as the city treasurer for the first half of the year. Trudy Firth was brought in as the city’s financial controller in August of last year.

Police chief Paul Ladouceur was second on the wage scale at $150,503, and city engineer Kiflom Weldeab was third at $139,800.

By comparison, Ward said that the total wages paid out to city staff and management in 2015 was more than $10.156 million. City employees and Estevan Police Service members each received a wage increase as part of the first year of their respective collective bargaining agreements.

Ward added the amount paid out to city employees could be down this year, which would be reflected in next year’s report.

Land development services manager Rob Denys wasn’t replaced after he retired at the end of January, and the city has decided not to immediately replace leisure services manager Nathan Jesse after he stepped down in July.

“We’ve eliminated about seven other positions in total,” said Ward.

He believes the wages paid out to city employees would be competitive with other communities in the province.

As for council, the amount paid out to all members was $135,094 last year, with $121,052 in remuneration for council members, and $14,042 in expenses. Mayor Roy Ludwig was, as expected, the top-paid member, as he received $45,749 between remuneration and expenses.

The remuneration for council members is established by a committee before each civic election.

The city also supplied $884,985 in grants over $50,000 to cultural agencies, with the Southeast Regional Library being the top recipient with $397,485 in funding.