Ottawa middle of the pack for municipal spending
Posted Jul 8, 2013 10:06:36 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has released its report card on municipal spending, with a focus on employee compensation and the growth of salaries.
Researchers combed through the province’s sunshine list to reach its conclusions, comparing Ontario’s top 20 cities.
St. Catharines and Kitchener topped the list with a B-, while Ottawa was tied with Barrie, Brampton, Sudbury and London with a C-. The lowest marks on the report card went to Oshawa.
Ottawa lost marks for having one of the highest rates of bureaucrats in the province, but did make some improvements.
“Ottawa had one of the highest rates of bureaucrats per population, municipally,” said Federation spokesperson Candice Malcolm. “We did note that Ottawa managed to keep growth under control, but failed to reign in the compensation of the top officials.
Malcolm takes particular issue with Ottawa City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick, whose compensation tops $350,000, which she points out is higher than his counterpart in Toronto.
