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Some Ontario Municipalities Could Be Headed For Bankruptcy: Report
(Toronto Sun, Kevin O’Connor, Oct 4, 2012)

Many Ontario municipalities are headed for bankruptcy because of golden payouts to employees who no longer work for the city, a taxpayer advocacy group said Thursday.

A study by Fair Pensions for All shows that city workers are still on the taxpayers’ bill after they retire with generous pensions and they are also getting lump sum payments for unused sick time and vacation days
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Several cities, including Hamilton, Kitchener and Guelph, are prime examples of municipalities in danger of going broke similar to the way some California cities have declared bankruptcy in recent months, said FPA president Bill Tufts.

“It’s time for governments to end the practice of sick time and vacation payouts for city employees,” Tufts said. “As cities begin to suffer from the current economic crunch, they need to realize that their single biggest expense is their personnel cost. This payout policy is virtually unheard of in the private sector.”

Hamilton paid out a $279,454 last year to their top five employees, who stopped working for the city or retired, for unused sick time.
Hamilton also paid out $167,100 to its top five employees for unused vacation time, the study said.