While most the average Ontarian received wage increase of about 2.8 per cent, some Lambton administrators got double digit pay increases according to the 2022 edition of the Sunshine List.

Since 1996, the provincial government requires all government agencies to release the salaries of publicly paid staff who make more than $100,000. This year in Lambton County, the biggest increases were seen in St. Clair Township where 10 administrators in all made the list.

St. Clair’s Chief Administrative Officer, John Rodey, reported a 17.2 per cent increase compared to the year before. He made $177,283.81 in wages and another $1,128.72 in benefits .

 St. Clair’s Director of Community Services, Kendall Lindsay, also received a double digit increase of 11.2 per cent from the previous year, with a salary of $121,372.46 reported.

Other staff, including the clerk and former fire chief, Walt Anderson, received pay increases of 5.4 per cent.

In Warwick, the top administrator’s wages also rose 17.2 per cent bringing Amanda Gubbel’s salary to over $118,000. 

Two new names were added to the Sunshine List in Warwick, both the public works manager and the treasurer surpassed the $100,000 salary figure with Treasure/Deputy CAO Trevor Jarrett making $111,019.20.

In Plympton-Wyoming, there were also double digit increases. 

CAO Carolyn Tripp had a pay raise of 10 per cent or about $14,517 in one year. That brings her salary to $160,267.13 on this edition of the Sunshine List. 

The town’s treasurer, Norma Roddick-Preece also made the list for the second year with a 13.8 per cent hike.

Roddick-Preece reported $14,377 more on the 2022 list for a salary of $118,129.09.

There were two names on the Sunshine List in Petrolia – a first. 

CAO Rick Charlebois received a six per cent increase in 2021 bringing his salary to $157,497.53. That’s $8,677 more the previous year.

Director of Operations Mike Thompson joined the Sunshine List in 2022, with a salary of $102,307.31.

For the first time, The Township of Dawn-Euphemia has an employee on the list – Administrator Donna Clermont’s pay rose above $100,00 by $626.

Brooke-Alvinston and Enniskillen remain the only Central Lambton municipalities without employees on the Sunshine List.

At the County of Lambton, the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Sudit Ranade, was the top earner on the 2022 list with a salary of $313,508.07 – a 4.65 per cent increase over the previous year.

Other top staff at the county received increases in the five per cent range with CAO Ron VanHorne bringing in $225,033, Stephane Thiffeault, GM of Corporate Services and the County Solicitor earning $206,940. Other general managers earned $196,507 – a 5.6 per cent increase from the previous year.

Not everyone got a pay increase. At Bluewater Health, the president and CEO, Mike Lapaine actually saw his salary go down 3.6 per cent this year to $319,546.60. He also get benefits, including a car allowance, totalling $10,577.

There were five executives at the hospital who made the sunshine list. 

While every level of government releases its statistics each year, they also add a caveat – the threshold the province uses for high wages hasn’t changed since 1996. 

In a report to Petrolia Council, Charlebois says the average rate of yearly inflation since 1996 is 1.91 per cent. That would mean that $100,000 in 1996 would be about $160,000 now.

Across Ontario, 244,390 staffers – everyone from nurses and doctors to politicians and municipal administrators – made the list this year, earning a total salary of $30,240,295,606.44.

The majority of the people on the Sunshine List – about 85 per cent – made between $100,000 and $150,000.

The highest paid public employee in Ontario is the head of Ontario Power Generation, Kenneth Hartwick, who made $1,628,246. In fact the only public employees making more than $1 million a year are a Hartiwick and three of his colleagues from OPG.

Premier Doug Ford reported $208,974 in salary on the 2022 list – the same as the year before. When Ford first took office, the salary was about $112,000.

There are four people in the administration of the provincial government who make more than the premier.

Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey took home $146,538.72 – the same as the year before.

Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton – who is also the province’s Labour Minister – was paid $165,851.04 according to the list.

The average salary of an Ontario worker is $52,260 according to Workopolis. Salaries in the private sector rose about 2.8 per cent in 2021.