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According to the city’s retirement benefit booklet for employees, “the bonus is equivalent to your current entitlement of annual vacation, and is paid over and above the normal vacation accrued at your date of retirement.”

Who knew that the city’s retirement booklet made for such gripping reading? Well, Colin Craig, the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, that’s who.

Craig read about the allowance in the retirement booklet and decided to submit a FOIP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy) request to find out how much this platinum perk is costing us weary taxpayers.

If you’ve just eaten, avert your gaze. According to the city’s FOIP request response, (which can be viewed online), in 2016 the retirement cash payouts to 332 employees totalled $3.4 million.

Last year, a cash payout of $4.88 million went to 452 employees — or an average payout of $10,815 for each employee.

The city has more than 13,000 employees. This is a problem, folks.

“The retirement bonus is not even a common benefit in most governments never mind the private sector,” Craig said Wednesday.

“Normally, when a long-serving employee goes to retire you gather people together for maybe a cake or you get the employee a small gift, but you’re certainly not giving every employee a cheque for almost $11,000 on the way out the door,” he added.

On top of this unheard-of-benefit, city employees receive extremely generous pensions, iron-clad job security and their salaries are great too, added Craig.