Burnaby’s top bureaucrat and highest paid employee got a 10 per cent raise last year, raking in a base salary of $387,489.
Leon Gous, Burnaby’s chief administrative officer, made $34,443 more in 2023 than the year before, according to the city’s newly released statement of financial information.
There were 18 Burnaby civil servants, all senior managers, who made more than $200,000 in 2023.
The statement of financial information reports the total amount of remuneration for employees that make more than $75,000 and the total amount of expenses paid to them.
Deputy CAO and chief financial officer Noreen Kassam had the second highest salary at $322,120.
Fire Chief Chris Bowcock, who had the 12th highest base salary at $216,285, also received $146,688 in benefits and “other,” which includes prior year remuneration, retro pay and lump sum payouts of unused vacation and banked overtime.
Tallying up Bowcock’s total compensation against the other senior managers, he was the third highest paid city employee garnering $369,106 total.
By base salary alone, Jozsef Dioszeghy, general manager of engineering, was the third best paid at $283,620.
There were 1,409 Burnaby employees who made more than $75,000 last year and 3,432 employees who made less than that.
The city paid a total of about $207.25 million in base salaries in 2023.
The city handed out eight severance agreements last year, equivalent to between one- and 24-months’ salary and benefits.
Who were the top 10 highest paid by salary?
- Leon Gous, chief administrative officer: $387,489
- Noreen Kassam, deputy chief administrative officer and CFO: $322,120
- Jozsef Dioszeghy, general manager engineering: $283,620
- Ed Kozak, general manager planning and development: $280,589
- James Lota, general manager lands and facilities: $262,344
- Bachar Khawajah, chief information officer: $238,863
- Dave Critchley, general manager community safety: $238,763
- Mary Morrison-Clark, general manager parks, recreation and culture services: $238,762
- Anita Bhandari, chief human resources officer: $238,515
- Juli Halliwell, general manager corporate services: $220,455
And you can search the chart below for the employees who earned more than $200,000:
