Staggering Sunshine list numbers

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The Sunshine list, which shows how many public employees make more than $100 000 a year, was released last week. It shows that of the ten highest paid police constables in Ontario, the top two work in Hamilton. While taxpayers aren’t on the hook for their full salaries, they are on the hook for those suspended officers still being paid more than $100 000 a year.

There were more than 115 000 Ontario government employees who earned at least six figures last year. Two of those people are suspended Hamilton police officers Craig Ruthowsky who took home just over $107 000 and Robert Hansen who earned slightly less around the $103 000.

Councillor Lloyd Ferguson chairs the Hamilton Police Services board, right now the police chief does not have the ability to suspend a officer without pay.
“The police service act is being opened up as we speak and we are very hopeful that it will get fixed because we are the only province in Canada that doesn’t have that right.”

Out of the top ten highest paid Ontario police officers the top two are from Hamilton. Constable Arthur Sterling made over $217 000 last year and Constable Derek Donn pulled in over $197 000. An officers salaries range from $64,000 to $91,000, depending on seniority. In order to make double their base salaries Ferguson says there are a few key factors that come into play.
“Overtime, retro pay, Pan Am and paid duty is what pushes them up if they want to volunteer to do it.”

When an officer volunteers for paid duty at a parade, concert or sporting event they make time and a half. That’s about $60 an hour for a minimum of 4 hours. Tax payers don’t cover that cost, it’s paid for by the company that hires the officers. But the president of the Hamilton Police Association Clint Twolan says, last year there was a significant amount of overtime incurred adding officers to the streets. Those shifts are 12 hours long and police are paid time and half. That’s about $720 a day to call in an officer on OT.

In 2015 400 constables earned $100 000 or more compared to 75 in 2014. Another contributing factor in that jump was the three years of retroactive pay awarded after a new contract settlement last year.