Public employee salaries focus of report
There are 50 public employees in Pennsylvania earning more than $150,000, according to a new report released by the Sunshine Review, a nonprofit that focuses on government transparency.
Public employee salaries focus of report
David Gambacorta
There are 50 public employees in Pennsylvania earning more than $150,000, according to a new report released by the Sunshine Review, a nonprofit that focuses on government transparency.
The nonprofit said it collected public salary information for Pennsylvania and seven other states -- California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin -- by using information that was already available online or by filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
Pennsylvania had the quickest response rate to the information requests, the Sunshine Review said. The state ranked sixth with 50 public employees earning more than $150,000. California was number one, with 1,332 employees earning more than $150,000.
Through last year, seven of the nine highest-paid public officials in Pennsylvania worked in Philadelphia. Here's the lineup:
1. Arlene Ackerman, former School District superintendent: $348,140
2. Sam Gulino, Philadelphia Medical Examiner: $239,200
3. Mayor Nutter: $198,658
4. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey: $195,000*
5. Jerome Waske, Pittsburgh paramedic crew chief: $174,881
6. District Attorney Seth Williams: $163,602
7. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers: $149,968
8. Anna Verna, former City Council president: $148,090
9. David Sanko, Bucks County chief operating officer:$140,688
*The list doesn't reflect the $60,000 raise that Mayor Nutter gave Ramsey to stay in Philadelphia when he was being linked to the top cop's job in Chicago. His salary is now $255,000.
The irony is if the focus were public employees who made 100K in public income as oppose to salary you would find hundreds cops who made well of 100K based on overtime pay. 50 people are not the issue but hundreds of millions of dollars in overtime is the real issue. The article completely misses the crux of problem, most of all paid overtime to public employees (including cops and other first responders) should be converted to compensatory time in lieu of paid overtime. It would reduce the City's financial deficit and would not affect services.— Speak-truth-2-power- @tr88-NOBODY gets full health care for life from PSERS as a standard part of their package. Many people do not collect for 20 yrs. from PSERS, some people die in their 60's, many retirees do not receive the a full pension as they entered the system later or quit. Many Philadelphia teachers leave in under 5yrs. and never retire from the system.— mick-of-the-moment
- Lloyd Ayers went through DROP and didn't retire. He collects a pension on top of his six-figure salary.— Michael T. Welsh
- Ramsey u are not worth that kind of money get out of our city murders are way up— the commodore
- Ayers get him out he is a drop abuser just like susan slawson when will the hypocripsy of this nutter administratiin end— the commodore
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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