Paul Martin, the auditor general for New Brunswick, presents a report to a committee of the legislature on Feb. 24, 2022. (Image: New Brunswick Legislature video capture)
New Brunswick’s auditor general has found inconsistent salary and benefits practices among the province’s Crown agencies.
Paul Martin singled out several Crown agencies in his first report as the province’s auditor general released Thursday.
“We found some notable differences when we compared the salary and benefits practices between certain Crown agencies and core government, even though it is important to the government that these practices remain consistent for similar staff,” Martin said in a news release.
Among the agencies examined as part of the report was NB Power, the province’s primary electric utility.
Martin found that the utility’s CEO was the highest-paid among the agencies examined, earning $560,000 in 2019.
“We noted six senior executives earned $101,000 per annum more than Part I deputy ministers. We also noted NB Power has the highest average employee salary at $89,000 per year,” Martin told a committee of the legislature on Thursday.
NB Power is also the only Crown agency to offer an “executive retirement benefit” which is additional money on top of their pension, according to the report.
Other agencies with “notable differences” listed in the report include the Research & Productivity Council (RPC), Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB), and Opportunities NB (ONB).
Martin noted that for many agencies — including NB Power, RPC and FCNB — government is not the employer and they are allowed to set their own policies according to their legislation.
But the report said memoranda of understanding that are issued to Crown agencies every three years are meant to provide “some direction.”
However, Martin said more work is needed if salary and benefits practices are expected to be consistent with central government and among Crown agencies.
“For instance, the government should define what it expects from Crown agencies, as part of the Memorandum of Understanding that establishes expectations from central government for certain Crown agencies where government is not the employer,” he said in the release.
You can view the full report online by clicking here.
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