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.
Comments (35)
Ayers get him out he is a drop abuser just like susan slawson when will the hypocripsy of this nutter administratiin end— the commodore- Ramsey u are not worth that kind of money get out of our city murders are way up— the commodore
- Lloyd Ayers went through DROP and didn't retire. He collects a pension on top of his six-figure salary.— Michael T. Welsh
- @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
- 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
- Mick-of-the-Moment: I had no idea there was anyone else like me here! You are absolutely, 100% correct factually. BTW, take a look at Romney's "mission" to France for 30 months during the Vietnam War (that he vigorously supported). This "mission," of course, was after all of his draft deferments were finished.— Philly Born
- 9? in the entire state? hardly anything here worth getting outraged over. there are 9 people on every single block in bryn mawr and radnor than make over a million a year.— Ryan
- Did Ackerman improve the school system .....no! Did Ramsey make the city safer ....... No! Did Nutter keep any of his campaign promises ......No! We could have monkeys running this city and we wouldn't be worse off.— RufusG
- Well looks like Pa is going to be in the same boat Jersey already is.
HIGH TAXES!— pesticide - Wasting the public's' money on Ackerman and Ramsey and Nutter is just a clue as to what is wrong with our system.— RufusG
- hey, kelprod: who financed those stadiums?? we did. they did not want to take the risk but they will pay some has been millions for years. some business acumen— joegrink
- All that Ramsey does is show up after the fact. If he was worth his inflated salary, he would show up before the mayhem has already happened.— RufusG
- @tr88- they work 40yrs--start at 22 end at 62, put in 7.5% of their pay for pension---get paid for 60yrs---so they are living to 122?— mick-of-the-moment
- 82 mick. They work for 35 or 40 years but get paid for 60. It kills us. No private sector employee gets income for decades PLUS benefits from their employer after they retire. Only the taxpayers get to foot that bill. The 7.5% doesnt come close to covering it. That might get you 1500 a month, not 80% of top salary and great health benes for the rest of your life. — tr88
- PSERS does not give health care for life. I still do not know where you are getting your numbers. Retire at 60 if you have 35 yrs. of service and have paid 7.5% of your gross pay for the entire period. If the state even kicked in 2.5% (legally they do not have to contribute anything and many years they do not) that is 10% of the gross for min. 35 yrs in an interest bearing account. That could more than handle their pension obligations. — mick-of-the-moment
- This comment has been deleted. — mick-of-the-moment
- Not even close. if you start at 25 and quit at 60. Lets say a median salary of 65K or 6500 x 35 is about 240K. You would have to get an incredible return to give you enough to pay 80% of top salary. 7%.2 would double every 10 years. So 35 years would give you about 1.25 million. Using the 4% rule that should only get you 50K a year, not the 75K theya re getting. And the boomers do get generous retirement benes which are really killers. And PSERS isnt doing it any longer. I actually think what they do today is pretty fair. Teachers hired between 1965 and 1985 are all retiring like kings and it's killing every township in the state. And why we have a 20Billion unfunded Public sector liability. we dont have that kind of money without raising taxes on people who cant afford to retire themselves. — tr88
- What a non-story story. CEO's of corporations that put out products that main and kill, banks that peddle worthless paper as real assets, and jetsetters who do nothing but spend their inheritance all make these folks look like paupers. The folks on this list aren't even, most of them, in the 10%, much less the 1%. And, yes, some of them don't do perfect jobs. But the jobs themselves serve the public interest, and require real work. This is just the 1%-owned media trying to change the subject from who owns this country, and how they're destroying it.— Stan Shapiro
- Where Public employees kill us is that they work for 40 years but get paid for 60 if they live a full life. Plus paid benefits which costs are not fixed but rise exponentially over the years. You can double the numbers you see here.— tr88
- Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey is worth his salary and he earns every penny of it. Running a large city police department is a challenge that not many would be up to. Criticizing public officials is easy but - wait a minute, who is the first to complain when they don't get the public services they demand?
— Glider2001 - it's rather unfortunate, especially considering the quality of life for many citizens in Philly. However originally being from MA, these don't seem so high.— sullivjo
- @kelprod--That for profit business built its operating facility partially with public money and enjoys a government protected anti-trust exemption. The lines between public and private enterprises are blurred these days as the "stand on their own two feet" let the "market" decide corporate elites increasingly expect the public to assume their risk. The Repubs. want another rich man's son from this corporate elite class to become pres. and tell us all about how he worked hard and earned every break he got and we could all do the same if we could just be a executive/governor's son.— mick-of-the-moment
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
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- But they HAD to pay that much to get Ackerman because..............— Falls Ed
- i thought ramsey got a $35k raise. Also, I thought Nutter makes 10% less than his official salary and has been doing that for a few years. There is no reason for top officials in other parts of the state to be paid what they make in Philly. More people, more problems, more responsibility.— Yakov
- speedqueen...Halladay gets paid from a for profit business willingly funded by consumers. Public sector employees are paid via taxes which are taken unwillingly from citizens. massive difference in where the money comes from and the ability to influence with ones money.— kelprod2
- Not exactly true about the Phillies, Kelprod. The taxpayers of Philadelphia paid over 100 million dollars to finance Citizens Bank Park but receive nothing back except Players' wage taxes. But it's impossible to get any kind of accurate sight picture on the city's finances, so who knows if they got their investment back by now. We went from a 40 miliion dollar school budget deficit to a 700 million dollar deficit in 2 or 3 years I think. BTW, as long as Halladay keeps on being awesome, I have no problem with his salary.
— kjuggs77 - Nothing back except wage tax? When you pay $20 to park and $8 a beer, guess who gets half? That was a business decision made by the city. — tr88
- if you add them all, its still a pittance to Roy Halladay. Hmmmm— Speedqueen Mistress
- Someone has to say it: These salaries are paltry compared to their private sector counterparts. But they don't account for benefits, which are probably better in government than industry. Now whether these people run their "businesses" as well as their private sector counterparts is another story.— chuck.goodwin
- @Kennedy - it is ridiculous, but not nearly as absurd as $350k for the piece of trash that is Ackerman!— dankil13
- I know there are state employees that make more than $150,000, like almost every judge. Why aren't they on the list?— Smartie Pants
- I like Ramsey but $255,000 is ABSURD. They should've just let him go back to Chicago. Murders are going back up anyway ... wonder if his newness/effectiveness has worn off.— Kennedy
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Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns. E-mail tips to brennac@phillynews.com
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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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Follow Chris on Twitter
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
Follow Dave on Twitter.
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
Follow Jan on Twitter
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
Follow Sean on Twitter
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