Sun shines on Frontenac Paramedic Services pay grid

Jeff Green | Apr 01, 2015

The Ontario Sunshine List came out last Friday, and while there are still only a few people working for local townships who receive over $100,000 a year in salary (two from South Frontenac, one from North Frontenac) the number at Frontenac County has climbed to 15.

Kelly Pender, the new Chief Administrative Officer, is not one of them because he was only hired in May of 2014, the subject year of the list.

Twelve of the $100,000 plus club at the County comes from employees of Frontenac Paramedic Services (FPS), including Chief Charbonneau and the two deputy chiefs, Gale Chevalier and Dave Gemmill. Most of the rest are supervisors, and two advanced care paramedics, who have come onto the list over the past two years and earned just a bit over $100,000 in 2014.

The minimal difference between the pay of supervisors and some advanced care paramedics, which was illustrated in graphic detail by the Sunshine report, underlines a potential problem in paramedic and other emergency services that has been identified by CAO Pender in the past.

In Frontenac County, the highest paid advanced care paramedic (ACP) earns more than three of the six supervisors, and almost the same as a fourth. And further up the ladder, the deputy chiefs only earn marginally more.

This is not, however, a major concern at FPS, according to Chief Paul Charbonneau.

“Vacant management positions within FPS are most often filled by long serving paramedics who wish to take their career down an administrative path. Many ACPs are quite happy to spend the full duration of their careers on the road providing patient care, and they are well compensated for their technical expertise and life experience.

“It's generally not a wage increase that attracts medics to the administrative side of the industry; supervisors, deputy chiefs, and chiefs find rewards in improving the service as a whole and supporting medics to provide the best patient care possible,” he said.

Principals and vice principals working in rural Frontenac and L&A schools, as well as a number of senior teachers, are featured on the Limestone District School Board's list (which is over 120 names long in total)

As well, among the thousands of police officers in the province who earn over $100,000 per year are a number who work out of the Frontenac Detachment, its Sharbot Lake affiliate, and the Kaladar Detachment.