Some city councillors are questioning the salary of Toronto Hydro’s million-dollar man.

Hydro chief executive Anthony Haines earned, according to regulatory filings, a total of $1,041,138 last year, $522,286 of it in base salary plus performance bonuses and incentives worth $508,551, as well as $6,967 in benefits and $3,334 in perquisite expenses.

The next highest paid executive at the city-owned electrical utility was Dino Priore, executive vice-president and chief engineering and construction officer, who earned $521,238, including $192,889 in performance bonuses and incentives. Total pay disclosed for three other executives ranged from $460,218 to $280,643.

Haines’s pay packet dwarfs those of other big earners at the City of Toronto and its arm’s-length agencies. For comparison, Mayor John Tory last year earned $186,044.32; city manager Peter Wallace $362,877.11; TTC chief executive Andy Byford $354.809.70; and John Tracogna, chief executive of Toronto Zoo, $252,360.76.

At executive committee Tuesday, Councillor David Shiner tore a strip off another Hydro executive vice-president, Chris Tyrrell, who went to city hall to answer questions about an agenda item on Hydro’s annual general meeting and 2016 audited financial statements.

Shiner said Haines, himself, should have appeared before Mayor John Tory and his executive to answer questions.

The councillor demanded to know when Hydro will respond to a July 2016 directive to give council a comparison of the salaries of the utility’s executives with those of other public sector equivalents and to explain why some bonuses and incentives are way over the council-directed bonus maximum of 25 per cent of base salary.

“Why are the bonuses for senior executives almost 100 per cent, and some of the others 60 per cent, when we say 25 per cent, and where does that come from?” Shiner asked Tyrell, noting the city last year agreed to inject $200 million into Hydro to solve a cash crunch and protect the utility’s credit rating.

Tyrrell said Hydro hired a consultant to examine the pay of the utility’s executive pay. The resulting report will go to Hydro’s annual general meeting and then to the city manager in November and then to city council.

Asked by Shiner to provide the instructions given to the consultant so that he’ll know what questions to ask when the report lands, Tyrrell told him, “I’d have to take that back to the (Hydro) board.”

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who sits on Hydro’s board, defended the utility for being slow in reporting back with financial information, saying, “They’re not the only ones,” and pointing a finger at Toronto Parking Authority and Build Toronto.

Minnan-Wong continued, “Hydro salaries are very generous. They are the highest in any organization here at the city or any other agency, board or commission.

“We have our first employee who makes over $1 million, and that’s certain to get attention . . . . I have made my views known on the (Hydro) board. Let’s have a vigorous discussion when (the consultant report) comes forward and not jump to conclusions.”

Haines, who heads the province’s third-biggest electrical utility, is not the only Hydro executive in Ontario to face salary questions. Mayo Schmidt, the head of Hydro One, earned $4.4 million in salary and bonuses last year.

In an interview, Shiner said taxpayers need to be assured that total pay for executives of city-owned agencies is “reasonable and appropriate for the work they are doing.”

“When I sat on the board of Toronto Hydro (starting in the early 2000s), the senior staff were making half of what they are now, and I’m concerned it might be out of line,” Shiner said. “I don’t know why any of our staff should be making $1 million a year for running a regulated company that receives the power from the provincial grid and distributes it throughout the city.”

Hydro spokesperson Brian Buchan said, in a statement, that the utility has been “very responsive” to council demands for information on executive pay and is ahead of a deadline to report back by the end of 2017.

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As for the base pay and bonuses, themselves, he said, “It is important to look at relevant comparators when considering what appropriate compensation is. That’s why the study is being done for the city manager and council . . . so the right analysis can be made.

“The appropriateness of compensation for Mr. Haines and other executives are contained within the report, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on that until the report has been approved, submitted, presented by the city manager and scrutinized through the process set by city council.”

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