BC Hydro's former president, Bob Elton, made $750,000 last year, making him the highest-paid executive in the province's entire public service, according to figures released Thursday by the provincial government.
It was the third year in a row that the B.C. government has released details on the compensation of senior executives at the province's Crown corporations, universities, colleges and health authorities.
The release covered payments to senior executives during the just-concluded 2009-10 fiscal year.
Elton has been one of the top-paid public servants in the province for years, regularly earning more than $500,000.
His much-higher pay packet last year, $749,213 to be precise, was due in large part to him being moved out of his job at BC Hydro, which resulted in a $191,711 payout for unused vacation time.
The second-highest-paid public servant in the province last year, according to Thursday's figures, was Tom Bechard, managing director with Hydro's energy-trading arm Powerex, who earned $636,315.
University of B.C. president Stephen Toope was third at $579,332, former Interior Health CEO Murray Ramsden was fourth at $575,109, and PavCo head Warren Buckley was fifth at $562,307.
In all, more than 20 senior public-service executives earned $400,000 or more in the last fiscal year.
However, the salary data did not include school districts, which aren't required to disclose their pay information until September.
The list also didn't include the B.C. Investment Management Corp. (BCIMC), which invests funds on behalf of public-sector pensions.
In The Vancouver Sun's own public-sector salary database, based on data for the 2008-09 fiscal year, the Top 10 earners included four executives from BCIMC, including CEO Doug Pearce, who earned $1 million.
The B.C. government said BCIMC was not included in its data because fewer than half of its board members are appointed by government, meaning it is not subject to the Public Sector Employers Act.
The median year-over-year pay increase for those on the Top 20 list was six per cent, though that figure is skewed by a handful of people who saw big increases because they left their jobs or were promoted.
Four of those on the Top 20 list saw a slight decrease in their pay from the year before.
BC Hydro had the most people on the Top 20 list, at five (including energy-trading subsidiary Powerex), followed by ICBC (3) and the B.C. Securities Commission (2). Another 10 agencies had just one person each on the list.
However, not a single person employed directly by the government -- as opposed to a Crown corporation or agency -- made the list. The highest-paid deputy minister in the provincial government, Allan Seckel, made $312,702 last year, placing him well out of the Top 20.
A complete searchable database of 48,000 public servants, covering the 2008-09 fiscal year, is available online at vancouversun. com/pay.
