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Dayton Business Journal...
Analysis: Ohio
generous with public salaries
by Joe Cogliano, DBJ Staff Reporter
Sunday, May 15, 2011
In Ohio, nearly 1,000 state employees made more than $100,000 in 2010.
And a majority made more than Ohio’s median income.
While Ohio is among many states cutting budgets and limiting collective
bargaining rights for its public employee unions, the state continues
to be generous with salaries.
The median personal income for all Ohioans is $31,284, but public
employees of the state of Ohio had a median pay about 33 percent higher
at $41,350 last year. And nearly 1,000 state employees made more than
$100,000 in 2010, according to a Dayton Business Journal review of
state worker pay provided by the Ohio Department of Administrative
Services.
This does not include employees of state colleges, which often have
administration officials and even athletic department employees who
earn more than $100,000.
Click link below for the salary database of 60,000 state of Ohio
employees.
Matt Mayer, president of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy
Solutions noted in a statement last year that public salaries are of
such importance that they should be open to the public.
“The Ohio State salary data is another step in bringing full
transparency to Ohio government,” Mayer said.
Public employee salaries have come under intense scrutiny as officials
from the federal level down to the smallest of municipalities are
looking for ways to offset looming budget shortfalls.
A report by the Cato Institute referred to public worker pay as
“generous” and suggested wage freezes as a way to cut costs. The report
also said that for 2008, wages and benefits costs topped $1.1 trillion
nationwide and accounted for half of total state and local government
spending.
Another recent report by the Cato Institute found that public workers
are three times less likely to quit their jobs than private sector
workers, suggesting that was evidence that compensation for public
workers was too high.
The issue of pay for public workers heated up last summer when word got
out that Bell, Calif. was paying its city manager nearly $800,000, the
backlash was swift. Residents were furious and national news outlets
jumped on the story, putting salaries for city officials under scrutiny
across the country.
Several Bell officials have since been arrested and ordered stand trial
on charges of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest.
However, that often is seen as an isolated case, and officials from
public employee unions contend that most public servants are not
overpaid.
And in a DBJ report last year on pay for local officials and city
workers in Dayton and Springfield, the region’s politicians and
industry experts said public salaries generally are not too high.
Jim Bodenmiller, Springfield city manager, said some top officials are
worth high salaries, and that attracting top talent is difficult when
competing with private sector employers.
“Like it or not, governments are like large businesses in many respects
and there’s a lot of responsibility in those positions,” he said.
Michele Frisby, a spokesperson for the International City/County
Management Association, said the California case has forced city
leaders across the U.S. to defend, or at least explain, their salaries.
“The ridiculous salary that was being paid to the Bell (Calif.) city
manager is so unusual; most salaries are in-line with standards for the
profession and are certainly not that competitive to private sector or
they don’t surpass private sector salaries,” Frisby said at the time.
Although the median state public employee pay is higher than Ohio’s
overall median wage, the state boasts many large companies paying top
salaries. For example, the Buckeye State is home to 27 Fortune 500
companies such as Kroger Co., Procter & Gamble, Macy’s Inc., Eaton
Corp. and Fifth Third Bancorp.
And officials say they are competing with those top companies when they
hire talent for top administrative positions, warranting competitive
pay packages.
In addition to Ohio public workers, the DBJ previously compiled a
salary database for several local cities and for all Ohio public school
teachers.
Read it with links and public employee salary links at Dayton Business Journal
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