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Details of public sector salaries published online

David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, with MP Jaché Adams, an adviser in the finance ministry (File photograph by Akil Simmons)

Comprehensive information on hundreds of public sector salaries has been published for the first time in more than 3½ years.

The up-to-date online list showed the highest and lowest earners in the Government, as well as all those in between, allowing taxpayers to see the jobs their dollars are spent on.

The top earners were the most senior civil servants: the Cabinet Secretary, the Head of the Public Service and the Financial Secretary, positions that were each said to bring in $223,835 a year.

Next was the Governor on $208,619, the Premier on $207,285, the Commissioner of Police on $206,955 and the Auditor-General on $205,068.

There were 29 posts listed for the Cabinet Office, including deputy chief of staff, paid between $124,043 and $133,426; personal aide to the Premier — $87,149; executive assistant to the Premier — $81,77 to $87,149; and social media co-ordinator — $87,149 to $93,611.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: "As it relates to the Premier’s support staff within the Cabinet Office, all posts save for the deputy chief of staff and social media and engagement co-ordinator posts, are vacant.

"There is no current chief of staff in the Premier’s office.“

She said a civil servant from the Department of Management Services was reassigned to become Head of Operations of Strategy — a post that does not appear in the new list — and was “responsible for providing strategic direction and logistical planning of the Premier’s activities”.

The Premier, David Burt, is also the Minister of Finance, and the list included a political aide in that ministry, with the position attracting $106,800 a year.

Progressive Labour Party backbencher Jaché Adams listed the job on his entry to the parliamentary register of interests, which was dated March 2021. He also picks up $56,023 annually as MP for Pembroke West.

The Cabinet Office spokeswoman claimed it was “completely incorrect” to say that Mr Burt had a political aide in the finance ministry.

She said Mr Adams had been an adviser to the finance minister since 2020 and was an “integral part” of the team in that ministry.

Mr Adams, the chairman of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation board, told The Royal Gazette yesterday: “I have worked in the Ministry of Finance since May 2020, prior to my election to the House of Assembly.

“I served as an adviser to former minister Curtis Dickinson and the current Minister of Finance.

“I am proud of my record in assisting in delivering key projects such as the mortgage guarantee programme, the removal of stamp duty for those looking to transfer their mortgage, and the recently announced reduction in pension fees, which will ensure all Bermudians retire with larger pension balances.”

Two other advisory roles appeared on the public sector salaries list: an economic adviser in the finance ministry on $124,043 and a special adviser at the Minister of Economy and Labour, with a $106,699 salary.

The Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the economic adviser job was an established post in the Public Service and not a ministerial appointment, as was the executive assistant in the Premier’s Office.

The list revealed that the total cost of salaries for 11 posts at Government House was at least $859,000 a year.

It showed that puisne judges earn $205,068, as can assistant puisne judges and the assistant financial secretary, who deals with treaties.

The Attorney-General’s salary was shown as $196,287 minimum and $203,045 maximum.

No one else on the list was said to earn above $200,000, but not included were employees of quangos such as the Bermuda Hospitals Boards, the Bermuda Gaming Commission and the Bermuda Tourism Authority, whose chief executives are paid more than the highest-ranking civil servants.

Public sector pay scales and salary information for public officials are published each year in the Government’s Budget Book, but the online list provides more detail.

The new version amends what were believed to be errors in the last published list, from January 2021, when the salaries for the police commissioner and deputy police commissioner were listed as $66,039, and the Director of Public Prosecutions and a youth library assistant were shown as both earning $100,469.

The new information shows the DPP’s salary as $196,287, while a youth collection librarian receives between $90,268 and $97,071.

The DPP’s six-figure salary was the same as that listed for the Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner, the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, the Solicitor-General and the Ombudsman.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police makes $194,369 a year and assistant police commissioners earn $181,166, the data showed.

The senior magistrate, the Deputy Solicitor-General, the deputy directors of public prosecutions, and the Head of Financial Sanctions at the legal affairs ministry all pick up $187,893, as can the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

The Commissioner of Corrections earns $179,853, the Commissioner of Education and the Tax Commissioner each receive $172,157, while the Royal Bermuda Regiment’s Commanding Officer earns $162,422.

There are 13 posts listed at the Privacy Commissioner’s Office, with the salaries totalling at least $1.5 million.

Privacy Commissioner Alexander White said: “We have 11 positions filled at our office and are in various stages of recruitment for the remaining posts.”

Bermuda’s Personal Information Protection Act 2016 is to come into full force on January 1.

The Gazette asked the Department of Communications for an up-to-date salary list in May but received no response.

The list was shared by the Department of Employee and Organisational Development on Friday in response to a public access to information request.

· To see the August 2024 list of public officer salaries and the January 2021 list, see Related Media. Where only a Job Max Annual salary is given in the 2024 list, these are posts with only one public service grade

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Published August 14, 2024 at 7:58 am (Updated August 14, 2024 at 7:13 am)

Details of public sector salaries published online

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