Three of the five highest-paid public employees in Stratford last year worked in local law enforcement, topped by Police Chief Gregory Skinner.
According to Ontario public sector salary disclosure documents released on Friday, Skinner was paid $253,300 in 2023 and received $10,383 in taxable benefit claims. He’s followed by Deputy Chief Gerald Foster in second, with $226,366, and Insp. Mark Taylor at $193,699 in fourth.
Rounding out the top-five were CAO Joan Thompson ($197,088) in third and senior fire captain Shawn Mccormich in fifth at $181,661.
The annual disclosure was put in place in 1996 and the benchmark for making the list has not moved since then. Based on the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, $100,000 in 1996 would be the equivalent of $175,368.90 in 2023.
A search of the term “Stratford” generates 144 results for 2023, with another 626 for the Avon Maitland District School Board and 199 for the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board.
Searches for those terms in the 2022 salary disclosure list return 136, 628 and 191 results respectively.
The top-paid public school board worker was director Lisa Walsh at $233,744, while director of education Christoper Roehrig led the way for the Catholic board with $217,717.
The Huron Perth Health Unit saw 21 workers surpass $100,000 in pay last year, with the biggest piece going to CEO Mirian Klassen ($328,853).
Topping the list for the County of Perth was CAO Lori Wolfe at $192,148. There were 49 county workers on the 2023 sunshine list.
