The Salary of The City Manager in Kelowna Has Sparked Outrage Among Taxpayers

According to recently published financial reports, managing the city of Kelowna appears to be more lucrative than managing the entire province. In 2023, Kelowna's city manager Doug Gilchrist earned over $338,000 CAD, significantly more than British Columbia's Premier David Eby, who earned about $227,000 CAD.

For comparison, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earned $389,000 CAD last year. Franco Terrazzano, the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, finds this situation unjustifiable.

“No, there is no justification for what is going on here. We’re talking about an extra…more than $100,000,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s federal director Franco Terrazzano.

He expressed doubts that taxpayers are getting equivalent value from the city manager's work.

Gilchrist's starting salary in 2019 was around $219,000 CAD, and over the past five years, his salary has increased by 55%. Terrazzano emphasized that this raise happened during a period when many taxpayers faced financial hardships due to the pandemic and inflation.

“When many normal people who are living in Kelowna are having a tough time affording hamburger meat and a jug of milk to see that this city manager who is already making a ton of money has now taken more than $100,000 in additional salary in what is a handful of years.” said Terrazzano.

By law, every local government in the province must publish a list of all employees who earned more than $75,000 CAD in the past year. Comparisons show that employees in similar positions in other Okanagan cities earned significantly less.