Burlington officials see big raises on 2023 sunshine list

Burlington’s city manager Tim Commisso topped the city's representation on the 2023 Sunshine List, taking home a salary of $301,993 last year. 

The Sunshine List, an annual round up of Ontario public officials who make more than $100,000 per year, dropped on Friday. There are a total of 484 employees in Burlington making six figures. 

The city’s (former) chief financial officer Joan Ford is Burlington’s second highest earner at $263,169. 

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward earned a salary of $202,712. 

The majority of the top earners in Burlington have their sector only listed as Municipalities and Services, with their employer listed as City Of Burlington.

Manuel Figueiredo, president and CEO of the YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford, is the city’s third highest earner on the list, with a salary of $260,000. 

In total there are 300,571 people working in the public sector in Ontario making more than $100,000. That includes city officials, transit drivers, teachers, police, firefighters, and health care workers. 

The sunshine list was introduced in 1996 with the $100,000 cutoff point. If the list had kept up with inflation over the last 27 years, the cutoff point would be closer to $180,000 today. 

In 2022, Commisso earned $275,377, marking an increase of about nine per cent. Ford’s earnings from the year prior were $242,369, for a difference of approximately 8.6 per cent. Figueiredo’s salary also saw a bump of nearly 20 per cent from his previous  $218,333 earnings in 2022. 

In Canada last year, the average raise was 3.6 per cent, according to consulting company Normandin Beaudry. 

Halton police chief Stephen Tanner earned $412,876 in 2023, up nearly $100,000 from 2022 when he took home $316,100. 

The highest paid person on the sunshine list for 2023 is Ontario Power Generation president Kenneth Hartwick, who took home $1,925,372 last year.