A velodrome is being built for the 2015 Pan-Am Games.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Two Pan Am Games executives ousted in the spring will receive severance payments totalling more than $600,000.
Elaine Roper, who served as senior vice-president of human resources, will receive $335,076.05. Louise Lutgens, the former senior vice-president of community and cultural affairs, will receive $302,153.31.
This brings the total that taxpayers have spent on severance for fired executives to more than $1-million.
Ian Troop, who had been hired as chief executive officer of the Games, was shown the door in late 2013 after more than three years of service. He was given a severance package that totalled $534,800.
The severance payments to Mr. Troop as well as to Ms. Roper and Ms. Lutgens include a lump sum, retirement benefits, medical benefits, outplacement payments and legal fees.
At the time of the dismissal of Ms. Roper and Ms. Lutgens in March, Pan Am board chair David Peterson said they were let go as part of a "streamlining."
In a release put out Friday afternoon by the TO2015 team, Saäd Rafi, who replaced Mr. Troop as chief executive officer, focused his comments on how the downsizing of the executive team will result in long-term savings for the Games, which will take place across the Greater Toronto Area next summer.
"This money, which would have otherwise gone to compensation, will be repurposed to front-line operations to ensure that we can improve the Games experience for athletes and spectators," Mr. Rafi said.
He said downsizing this spring will bring $1.5-million in savings.
The total cost of the severance for Mr. Troop, Ms. Lutgens and Ms. Roper is $1,172,029.36.
This week, the provincial government put up $74-million to bail out the Games. The organizing committee said it would require $25-million to cover expected shortfalls and $49-million for "additional requirements."
Ticket sales for the $2.57-billion games had a strong start last week – 75,000 were sold within the first 48 hours. But with less than a year to go before the start of the games, organizers are grappling with construction delays on many of the major venues. Ontario Sports Solutions, the consortium that is building the Hamilton soccer stadium, the Milton velodrome and the York University stadium, has not been paid more than $140-million of its contract due to missed deadlines. The three facilities were to be fully operational by now but none have been completed.
With a report from The Canadian Press.
Dakshana Bascaramurty