Kelowna Spends $83M on Top Earners in 2024—Taxpayers Take Note
You might be surprised to hear this, but in 2024, the City of Kelowna spent a staggering $83 million on its highest-paid employees. Yes, you heard that right—eighty-three million dollars of public money went to just a portion of the city workforce. And that’s out of a total $114 million employee budget. These figures were recently released in Kelowna’s official Statement of Financial Information, and they’re drawing a lot of attention—for good reason.
Let’s put this into perspective. Back in 2021, the city’s total payroll was about $85.1 million. Fast forward to 2024, and that number has jumped nearly $29 million. The number of employees earning over $75,000 has exploded too—from 525 in 2021 to 754 last year. This group includes 202 city staff, 146 firefighters, and 406 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
So who’s at the top of this well-paid pyramid? The highest earner in Kelowna is City Manager Doug Gilchrist, who brought in $362,138 in salary plus $21,624 in expenses in 2024. That’s quite a jump from his 2021 earnings of $306,371. Right behind him is Kelowna Airport CEO Sam Samaddar, who made $253,409 along with a whopping $42,392 in expenses. These are not small figures by any means, especially for positions funded entirely by taxpayer dollars.
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Then there’s Ryan Smith, the Divisional Director of Planning, Climate Sustainability and Development Services. His salary hit $234,621 last year, up from $206,879 in 2023. Even in the fire department, salaries are rising. The top-paid firefighter, Platoon Captain Micah Volk, earned $204,186 .
And what about our elected officials? In 2024, Mayor Tom Dyas earned $142,363 , while most councillors earned between $44,000 and $49,000. Councillor Mohini Singh was the most frugal with just $169 in expenses, while Maxine DeHart led the pack with $8,520 , not counting the mayor’s $15,609 . Altogether, the city spent over $520,000 in council salaries and another $42,000 in expenses.
What's striking is not just the size of these paycheques, but how quickly they’ve grown. It raises valid questions for taxpayers: Are we seeing a proportional increase in service quality? Are these roles being compensated fairly relative to the private sector? And most importantly—how sustainable is this growth?
These are the kinds of discussions that matter, especially when every dollar of this budget comes from the pockets of Kelowna residents. As we head into a future where cities face mounting infrastructure and affordability challenges, keeping a close eye on where our tax dollars go is not just smart—it’s essential.
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