The Tip of the Iceberg
February 26, 2026
Of late, much ado has been made in these parts about the proposed amalgamation of the many municipalities within Niagara. All in the name of cost savings, so the proponents argue. To a point, they’re right. We certainly don’t need all those politicians. Niagara, in fact, is the most over-governed region in the province.
That said, a closer look behind the scenes reveals that the money spent on politicians is only the tip of the iceberg. Let us dive deeper, shall we, and discover where our tax dollars are really going.
And to that end, we need go no further than publicly available Sunshine List (those who made $100,000 or more) records for the City of St. Catharines, a small lower-tier city. No fewer than 242 employees were on that list for 2024, a 19.2% increase from the previous year. Many of them were firefighters. An essential service. But many others were not and could hardly be considered essential. And even those who are somewhat essential are wildly overpaid.
Let us start with David Oakes, the CAO, who raked in $263,091. Double what the man who occupies the office of mayor was paid. Cue the line from The Terminator, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Yes, you need to pay good salaries to attract quality people. But this is a tad outrageous, methinks. Particularly since the man who occupies the office of mayor at least has to go through the charade of facing voters and votresses, whereas Oakes and his staff don’t. Same goes for his deputy, Erin O’Hoski, who pulled in $215,896 following a massive increase a couple of years earlier.
Moving on, Wesley Adair, Chief Communications Officer, was paid $203,287, while Scott Rosts hauled in $102,346 as Manager of Corporate Communications. Let me get this right. We’re paying multiple people six-figure salaries to censor and shadow-ban taxpayers on social media?
Phil Cristi, the Director of Community, Recreation and Culture Services, made $188,100. Donna Delvecchio, the City Clerk, made $136,912. See my point above regarding Oakes and O’Hoski. More people who are seriously overpaid. And why is there a Culture Services department at all?
This next group puzzled me. Brian York, Director of Economic Development and Government Relations, Robert Belchior, Small Business Consultant, Sabrina Maselli-Delpriore, Senior Economic Development Officer, Melissa Wenzler, Government Relations Advisor, and Julia Ciolfi, Economic Development Officer. That such positions exist is galling enough, but even worse given what they’re being paid and considering that government has been biggest enemy of economic growth in our city. This is akin to the chickens paying foxes to raid the hen house. For the record, York’s 2024 salary was $188,100, the next three each made $109,932, while poor Julia only made $100,296. My heart bleeds. Maybe we should start a GoFundMe campaign for her.
More of the appallingly overpaid include Tami Kitay, Director, Planning and Building Services, who raked in $188,100, along with John Lane, Chief Building Official, at $177,433. The biggest problem with Eric Lamothe, Manager of Community Initiatives and Partnerships, who raked in $135,002, isn’t even his huge salary, but rather why his position and department exist at all.
There’s Lucia Chen, Manager, Financial Planning, who pulled in $146,874. Not that bad on the surface until you consider there are already several bean counters on the list paid more than her. How many of them do you need?
Amazingly, several HR people were on this list. Gail Flaminio, Manager, Human Resources, made $152,363. HR consultants Victoria Woolridge, Veronica Golden, Reva Eckhardt, Robert Cornelius and Allison Seddon each pulled in $109,932. No one in HR in any organization is worth a six-figure salary. HR is administrative overhead and not a core function of any business, public or private. To this you can add Cindy Pfeffer, Organizational Development Consultant, who made $109,932 as well as three office managers, Anna Smith, Jessica Thomson and Suzan Soliman, who each pulled in just over $100,000.
Margareta Josiopvic, Senior Manager, Housing Accelerator Program, at $155,742, Emily Jendoubi, Supervisor, Active Transportation, at $117,467 and Shannon Mchugh, Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, at $109,943 each occupy positions which simply shouldn’t exist.
There’s Kathleen Powell, Supervisor of Historical Services/Curator, at $109,932. This is the head honchoette at the museum who puts the rights of dogs ahead of the tax-paying humans who pay her salary and cheerfully bars anyone like me with allergies from entering the place. When I complained to our former mayor about it, he forwarded it off to her, who pretty much told me to go (expletive) myself. Another one of the many who is wildly overpaid.
Finally, there’s Samir Husika, Downtown Development Officer, who made $100,296. Wait, aren’t downtown business owners already slapped with a surtax to fund the SCDA? Maybe you need one or the other and likely neither, but you sure don’t need both.
This, boys and girls, is where your hard-earned money is going. No amount of amalgamation of municipalities is going to amount to any more than a drop in the bucket as far as your property taxes are concerned until we get a handle on the real problem.
The burgeoning bureaucracy at City Hall.
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