The City of Winnipeg spent more than $700,000 last year to say goodbye to its top cop and senior bureaucrat.
Former police chief Jack Ewatski earned $361,226 in 2007, while former chief administrative officer Annitta Stenning took home $343,500, according to the 2007 Compensation Disclosure, an annual list of city salaries published earlier this week.
Jack Ewatski
Ewatski, who was a police officer for 34 years, appears to have earned a basic salary of approximately $82,000 for six months' work last year, based on his 2006 salary of $161,000.
That suggests his retirement package -- which may have included back pay and benefits such as unused sick and vacation days and a car allowance -- was somewhere in the vicinity of $279,000.
Stenning, meanwhile, was CAO for four years and appears to have earned approximately $155,500 for nearly nine months pay last year, based on a 2006 salary of $209,500. That suggests her retirement package was approximately $188,000.
"When a long-standing employee retires, there are substantial payouts," said Luella Lee, Winnipeg's internal services director, who could not discuss specific aspects about payouts to either Ewatski or Stenning.
Ewatski retired, while Stenning left the city to eventually lead the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation. They officially left the city on good terms but did not always see eye to eye with Mayor Sam Katz.
Annitta Stenning
On Wednesday, the mayor declined to comment on the payouts to Ewatski and Stenning or the circumstances surrounding their departures.
"You're not going to have any mayor comment on human resources issues," Katz told reporters. "You have your numbers and you can draw your conclusions."
The mayor's salary was $111,564 in 2007, although his 33 per cent income tax exemption made that salary roughly equivalent to $140,000.
That still meant Katz earned less last year than several senior city administrators, including Ewatski, Stenning and former chief information officer Cliff Jeffers, who retired on Aug. 31 and earned a total of $217,496 in 2007.
"When I sit in a meeting, I'm usually surrounded by people who make more money than me," Katz quipped.
Earlier this year, the city auditor suggested Winnipeg has trouble recruiting high-level employees because the city pays less than the private sector or the province.
"Like everyone else, we're in a tight labour market," internal services director Lee said.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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