$150,000 Club

NANAIMO CITY HALL'S $150,000 CLUB

75 City staff earned over $150,000 in 2025

The City of Nanaimo's 2025 Statement of Financial Information should make taxpayers pause. Not because individual employees are villains. They are not. But because the numbers show how large the public payroll structure has become, and how far removed some City remuneration now is from the incomes of the residents paying the bill.

According to the 2025 SOFI, 75 City of Nanaimo staff earned more than $150,000 in remuneration in 2025. That figure does not include elected officials. It also does not include RCMP member pay, because Nanaimo contracts the RCMP for policing rather than employing RCMP officers directly.

The SOFI figure is remuneration including taxable benefits. It is not necessarily base salary. In some cases it may include overtime, acting pay, or other year-specific amounts. But from the taxpayer's point of view, it is still money paid through the public payroll system.

The headline number:

75 City staff earned over $150,000 in 2025.

The $150,000-plus breakdown

Employee Group	Number Over $150,000
IAFF / Fire	44
Management	28
CUPE	3
Total	75

The 75 employees above the $150,000 line received approximately $12.98 million in remuneration. The top 50 earners received approximately $9.11 million, averaging about $182,280 each.

The top of the list was the Chief Administrative Officer at $306,926. The next highest included senior management, the Fire Chief, senior finance and engineering positions, and a significant number of fire officers and firefighters.

Selected top earners

Position	2025 Remuneration
Chief Administrative Officer	$306,926
General Manager, Engineering & Public Works	$234,335
General Manager, Corporate Services	$230,776
Fire Chief	$223,432
Manager, Payroll	$215,195
Director, Finance	$204,901
Platoon Captain	$200,584
Deputy Fire Chief	$196,930
Firefighter	$195,616
Director, Parks, Recreation & Culture	$194,568

The point is not that Nanaimo should have no senior managers, firefighters, engineers, finance staff, or skilled employees. A city cannot operate without people. Roads, parks, water, sewer, emergency services, finance, planning, IT, permitting and public safety all require staff.

The real question is whether taxpayers have ever been shown a serious affordability test before these payroll commitments were approved. Wage agreements, staffing expansions, overtime structures and benefit costs become permanent pressure on future budgets.

In 2025, the SOFI reported total employee remuneration of $79.43 million. Of that, $62.04 million went to employees earning more than $75,000.

Points To Ponder

• When did $150,000-plus become common enough to include 75 City employees?
• Has council publicly tested payroll growth against taxpayer affordability?
• How much of future tax increases are already locked in by wage, benefit and staffing decisions?
• Should taxpayers receive a plain-language annual payroll affordability report before tax increases are approved?

City Hall often talks about service levels. Fair enough. But the missing companion question is affordability. What level of municipal payroll can Nanaimo households reasonably sustain?

That question should be front and centre before the next budget debate, not buried in a 40-page SOFI document after the money has already been spent.

Sources: City of Nanaimo 2025 Statement of Financial Information; City of Nanaimo 2025 Annual Financial Statements.