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York Region pays 'sunshine' salaries for 431 more employees

Region now has 3,483 employees on public salary disclosure list, Southlake adds more than 200 to its list of 720 names
Joseph Quigley
Joseph Quigley
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Local municipalities are spending more on their employees as York Region's so-called Sunshine List swelled by more than 400 in the 2022 public sector salary disclosure released March 24.

The municipality had 3,483 employees listed as making more than $100,000 in the annual disclosure released late Friday afternoon. That is an increase from 3,052 employees in the year before.

Meanwhile, Newmarket has 201 employees on the 2022 sunshine list, up from 186 in the year prior. Its list includes Central York Fire Services. 

Southlake Regional Health Centre’s Sunshine List increased by more than 200 names.

York Region CAO Bruce Macgregor topped the list of regional employees with $334,450 earned in salary, up from $328,100 in 2022. Meanwhile, Newmarket’s top earner was CAO Ian McDougall, who earned $247,683 in salary.

The top five earners for York Region, including York Regional Police and York Region Transit, were:

  1. CAO Bruce Macgregor, $334,450 plus $13,889 in benefits ($328,100 plus $13,901 in benefits in 2021).
  2. Medical officer of health Dr. Barry Pakes, $308,315 plus $12,370 in benefits ($140,777 plus $945 in benefits in 2021 after being hired partway through the year).
  3. York Regional Police Chief James MacSween, $303,324 plus $28,388 in benefits ($298,522 plus $20,667 in benefits in 2021).
  4. York Regional Police Deputy Chief Robertson Rouse, $296,661 plus $25,492 in benefits ($261,924 plus $25,718 in benefits in 2021).
  5. Commissioner of public works Erin Mahoney, $274,685 plus $12,496.88 in benefits ($242,103 plus $12,333.12 in benefits in 2021).

One notable name not on the top York Region salary list is director of corporate communications Patrick Casey. After coming in second on the list for 2021 with $330,512 in salary, ahead of the CAO, his salary was $218,241 for 2022. 

The region’s top 2021 earner, medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji ($379,720 in salary), retired last year.

The top five earners for the Town of Newmarket were:

  1. CAO Ian McDougall, $247,683 plus $17,592 in benefits ($222,090 plus $6,635 in benefits in 2021).
  2. Commissioner of development and infrastructure Peter Noehammer, $220,559 ( $208,729 in 2021)
  3. Commissioner of corporate services Esther Armchuk $214,259 ($208,729 in 2021)
  4. Central York Fire Services Chief Ian Liang $190,312.66 ($185,339 in 2021)
  5. Director of public works services Mark Agnoletto $183,132.46 ($170,639 in 2021).

After seeing its numbers on the list drop, Southlake’s Sunshine List is back up. It had 602 names on the list in 2020, falling to 503 in 2021 after an operating deficit in 2020. Now, the list has 720 names for 2022.

The top five earners for Southlake were:

  1. CEO Arden Krystal $521,297 plus $10,649 in benefits ($520,229 plus $10,649 in benefits in 2021).
  2. Pathologist Shaheda Handy $368,928 ($352,464 in 2021).
  3. Pathologist Charles Yi, $351,546 ($334,142 in 2021).
  4. Pathologist Margaret Misztal, $335,331.67 ( $336,107 in 2021)
  5. Pathologist Hannah Wu, $333,167 ($332,329 in 2021).

You can find the full 2022 disclosure on the Ontario government website.