Sunshine List will expose six-figure salaries of Alberta government employees

[taco.vidal]

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/12/19...ment-employees

All provincial government employees making above $100,000 in base pay will have their salary, benefits and any severance disclosed to the public.

We’re talking about 3,400 people out of 27,000 on the payroll.

With those on a contract, their deal, including severance, will be made public.

The so-called Sunshine List will also publicize the salary range for each employee.

The list will begin by posting 2012 and 2013 numbers on the web by the end of next month.

Provincial agencies, boards and commissions will be expected to follow suit with similar policies.

Alberta Health Services will have to be on board.

Cities are not covered though Calgary’s Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart is working on a Sunshine List proposal for city council to debate and adopt in the new year.

[GGG]

I don't like this. With the bar at 100k a lot of professionals working at government agencies will have their Salaries disclosed. These aren't high level managers with golden parachutes. They are average working profressionals. I don't think making 100k is enough to warrent the loss of privacy this entails. To me it should be just the heads and boards of each department. Not the workers.

[cKy]

BC has done this since I have been here. I don't see an issue with it. Having done IT support for them, it's always fun to look up a salary of an absolute train wreck after a support call.

Government is funded by the people, I have no issue with knowing where and who my taxes are being spent on.

[Wood]

We're going to learn a lot of CPers real names from this list

[killer_carlson]

If they did it position by position rather than by name, the same point gets across without the same loss of privacy.

However the big joke here is that the boards and tribunals, aka patronage appointments, will not have their names and salaries listed.

[Ozy_Flame]

This seems like nothing more than to aggravate the public and boil their blood with wasteful government spending. Might be the government shooting themselves in the foot.

As mentioned by killer_carlson, what is more important is to list all appointments at the top level, by whom, for how long, how much they make, and what their job duties are.

[jammies]

$100 000? Plebes.

[Northendzone]

i wonder what the point of this list is? i'll bet there are lots of people in the O&G industry making more than $100k.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Is $100k really that much anymore? I mean 10 years ago maybe, but today it seems like $100k is just slightly above average salary.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i wonder what the point of this list is? i'll bet there are lots of people in the O&G industry making more than $100k.

Agreed. There should be people making that much in the government or we are going to lose all of the good people to the private sector.

[Slava]

The $100k isn't the issue though, its the people making hundreds of thousands, and perhaps more importantly the severance disclosures. Once these start to get posted no one will care about the guy at the bottom of the list, because at least a part of the issue is the anchoring that goes with it. You see a group making say $500k and those guys making $250k look poor in comparison.

[Bmuzyka]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

Is $100k really that much anymore? I mean 10 years ago maybe, but today it seems like $100k is just slightly above average salary.

I fully agree, and in a single income household, with multiple kids, its a damn near a living wage in Calgary.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Toronto Sun already does this I believe. But yeah this is typical populist bull####, trying to rile people up over "government waste" as if reducing or eliminating these people's salaries and benefits is all it takes for "government waste" to go away.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i wonder what the point of this list is? i'll bet there are lots of people in the O&G industry making more than $100k.

In the public sector, $100K is still considered a big deal. I've seen 20 year old kids making or close to making $100K in the O&G for sure.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

I fully agree, and in a single income household, with multiple kids, its a damn near a living wage in Calgary.

Yeah, $100K doesn't buy you much these days. After tax and saving for retirement, your take home pay will be about $5K or so a month. If you are a single earner with 2 kids, a big house, 2 cars. $5K take home pay isn't much. But this is the world we live in.

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Agreed. There should be people making that much in the government or we are going to lose all of the good people to the private sector.

Seriously...

Would you rather earn $100k as a manager/director in government and get patronized for it, or jump ship to a lower or equivalent role in the private sector and earn the same or $20-50k more and preserve your privacy.

The low salary threshold on this list is mind boggling.

[Tinordi]

Light the torches!

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Yeah, $100K doesn't buy you much these days. After tax and saving for retirement, your take home pay will be about $5K or so a month. If you are a single earner with 2 kids, a big house, 2 cars. $5K take home pay isn't much. But this is the world we live in.

Median total household income in Alberta is $89k; the national average is $72k.

Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...il108a-eng.htm

Note that the majority of Canadian households are dual-income, so one can infer that the average salary for individuals is significantly lower than $100k.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by cKy

BC has done this since I have been here. I don't see an issue with it. Having done IT support for them, it's always fun to look up a salary of an absolute train wreck after a support call.

Government is funded by the people, I have no issue with knowing where and who my taxes are being spent on.

Well that's just the worst IT security setup ever. Giving the ability to support people to look up salaries should get somebody fired.

[Ace]

If I learned anything from the NHL, once you make salaries public info, they all go up even more. You start comparing against other positions with less value, and justify increases. This is going to cost tax payers more money in the end.