Vancouver City Hall refuses to reveal cost of surge in severance payouts

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The city then directed Postmedia to submit a request through the freedom of information process.

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Binda says the city’s argument about respecting former employees’ confidentiality “holds less water than a pasta strainer. There are no privacy concerns with releasing total dollar figures.”

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“There’s no reason for the City of Vancouver to be forcing journalists to go through the freedom of information system instead of proactively disclosing that information like they’ve done in the past, and like other municipalities in the Lower Mainland continue to do,” Binda said. “Governments use the FOI system to stonewall, delay and deny the release of records, just like this.”

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The surge in severance deals comes as the ABC-led government tightens the belt on spending. Over the first three years of ABC’s four-year term, property taxes increased by a cumulative 22 per cent and the city workforce saw a net gain of more than 700 full-time-equivalent employees.

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For 2026, the final budget before this October’s municipal election, ABC’s council majority directed city staff last year to freeze property taxes by finding $120 million in spending cuts and revenue increases. The staff cuts that started ramping up last year have continued into this year. The city declined to share the number of severance agreements with non-union employees so far in 2026, but this year has seen continued departures of high-profile employees, including the city clerk and deputy city clerk last month, and the chief building official just this week.

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In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the mayor’s office wasn’t involved in the decision not to release information about severance payouts this year, and said they wouldn’t comment further because this is “an operational matter.”

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Who, then, is accountable for this decision? The city declined to answer that question or make anyone available for an interview.

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Geoff Teoli is one former city employee who believes taxpayers deserve to know an aggregate total they’re paying for severance agreements like his own.

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Teoli worked as Vancouver’s film commissioner, liaising between city hall and the local TV and movie industry, until his job was cut in April 2025, and now he’s making his first political run, as a council candidate this year with the new party Vote Vancouver.

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Teoli said he supports transparency, and agrees with the rules requiring municipalities to report salaries of all employees earning more than $75,000 a year. Vancouver’s 2024 statement of financial information shows Teoli earned a salary of $179,828 in his last full year on the job.

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He can’t, however, think of any valid reason for the city not to promptly disclose severance payout totals, he said: “It just comes back to the importance of transparency and building trust with the taxpayer, and this kind of thing just erodes that trust further.”

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Many Vancouver taxpayers will applaud ABC Vancouver’s attempt to rein in the trend of a municipal workforce that has, for many years, outpaced population growth. And although ABC will, inevitably, attract criticism from some corners, including unions, for the cuts, they have the authority and mandate to make these decisions. (Last month, B.C.’s Labour Relations Board ruled in the City of Vancouver’s favour, dismissing CUPE 15’s complaint alleging the employer had bargained in bad faith ahead of the job cuts).

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But even for taxpayers who support these cuts, it’s reasonable for them to want to know the cost.

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Postmedia has submitted a freedom of information request seeking these details.

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