THE COST YOU DON'T SEE

THE PAYROLL BILL TAXPAYERS DON'T FULLY SEE

Wages are only part of Nanaimo's labour cost

The SOFI wage list is useful. It tells taxpayers who was paid what by the City of Nanaimo in 2025, at least for employees earning more than $75,000.

But the SOFI wage list is not the full labour burden.

It does not show the full cost of employer-paid benefits. It does not show the full pension contribution burden in a way most taxpayers would notice. And it does not include RCMP member compensation as City employee wages because Nanaimo contracts the RCMP for policing.

The public sees the wage list. The taxpayer funds the larger labour system.

The visible SOFI payroll

The City of Nanaimo's 2025 SOFI reported total employee remuneration of $79.43 million. Employees earning more than $75,000 accounted for $62.04 million of that amount.

That is the visible list most people see. It is important, but it is not the whole picture.

The larger financial-statement picture

Item	2025 Amount
SOFI employee remuneration	$79.43M
Financial-statement wages and benefits	$99.37M
Police contracted services	$33.12M
Total City expenses	$242.94M
Employer contribution to Municipal Pension Plan	$7.38M

On the City's 2025 financial statements, wages and benefits alone were approximately 40.9% of total expenses.

When the police contracted-services line is added as a labour-like cost, the combined figure rises to approximately $132.49 million, or about 54.5% of total City expenses.

That does not mean every dollar of the police contract is officer wages. It means Nanaimo's policing labour cost is not visible as City employee remuneration in the SOFI wage list, even though taxpayers still fund it.

Put plainly:

The SOFI wage list shows the visible payroll. The financial statements show a much larger wage, benefit, pension and policing burden.

Why this matters before tax increases

Every year, taxpayers are told the City faces budget pressures. That is true. Costs go up. Infrastructure ages. Service demands grow. Public safety is expensive. None of that should be dismissed.

But taxpayers are also entitled to ask how much of the budget is now driven by permanent labour cost. Once staffing is added, wages are negotiated, benefits are embedded and pensions are funded, the costs do not easily go away.

Roads can be delayed. Capital projects can be staged. Some discretionary programs can be reduced. But payroll commitments become part of the base budget. They return every year, usually higher.

The RCMP question

Nanaimo's police costs deserve special attention because they sit in a different bucket. The City contracts the RCMP to provide policing services. City employees provide administrative support, but RCMP members are not listed as City employees in the SOFI wage schedule.

So when taxpayers look only at City employee remuneration, they are not seeing the full policing labour burden. That is a major omission if the goal is to understand how much of the City's total cost structure flows to people, payroll, benefits, pensions and public-safety staffing.

The missing affordability test

The missing question is not whether City workers do useful work. Many do. The missing question is whether council has a clear affordability standard before approving new staffing, wage settlements, overtime structures, and service expansions.

Nanaimo taxpayers should not have to dig through SOFI schedules and financial statements to understand the basic labour cost picture. Council should present it clearly before asking for another tax increase.

Points To Ponder

• What percentage of Nanaimo's total expenses is driven by wages, benefits, pensions and policing labour?
• Should RCMP contract costs be shown beside City payroll when discussing taxpayer affordability?
• Should council publish a full labour-burden report before approving each annual tax increase?
• How much of Nanaimo's budget is truly flexible once payroll commitments are locked in?

This is not about attacking workers. It is about telling taxpayers the whole story.

If City Hall wants more money from Nanaimo households, it should first show those households the full payroll burden they are already carrying.

Sources: City of Nanaimo 2025 Statement of Financial Information; City of Nanaimo 2025 Annual Financial Statements; City of Nanaimo 2025 State of the Economy Report; Statistics Canada Table 11-10-0239-01.