Wisconsin local government salary

Wisconsin local government salary data is public record.

Cities

Sunshine Review filed a Wisconsin Open Records Law request seeking information on public employees salaries, focusing on those with an annual income of $150,000 or higher for the years 2008-2011. Madison officials responded to Sunshine Review's request with a note that no city employee earned an annual salary of $150,000 or more during those years.^[1]

However, according to the Wisconsin State Journal's salary database, several employees earned over $150,000 during those years. Director of Planning Development Mark Olinger earned $169,439.15 in 2010. ^[2] In 2009 Comptroller Dean Brasser earned $151,551.04 ^[3]

The mayor of Milwaukee earns $147,335.76 in 2011.^[4]

Counties

The highest salary for key officials in Milwaukee County goes to the Sheriff, who makes $132,290 in 2011. ^[5] The Dane County public employee earning the most in 2010 is the Airport Director, bringing in $145,556.^[6] The highest salary yet is at the Brown County Health Center, where an employee made $291,364 in 2009-2010.^[7]

Waukesha County is the 10th largest employer in the County, employing 1,376 full time employees.^[8]

School districts

According to an online database created by the Journal Sentinel, there are 113 employees of the Milwaukee school district making more than $100,000 in 2011. ^[9] One employee of the Madison Metropolitan School District was paid a salary of $150,000 or more between 2008-2011^[10].

The Assistant District Administrator for Racine Unified Schools makes $112,630.00, the highest salary in 2010. ^[11]

Law enforcement

Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office salaries for 2010 are provided online by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Nine employees are listed as having earned over $100,000 in total pay.^[12] The highest paid position is the Medical Director for Detention Services who made $192,694.00. In 2009, 15 employees of the Dane County Sheriff's Office made over $100,000.^[13]

Fire departments

The Fire Chief for the City of Madison Fire Department earned the highest salary in 2011, making $132,542.45.^[14] For Milwaukee, the highest salary went to it's Deputy Fire Chief who earned $150,512 in 2010.^[15]

Salary articles

In 2011, Sunshine Review requested salary information from 19 local governments in the state.

Salary records project

In 2011, Sunshine Review chose 152 local governments as the focus of research on public employee salaries. The editors of Sunshine Review selected eight states with relevant political contexts (listed alphabetically):

Within these states, the editors of Sunshine Review focused on the most populous cities, counties, and school districts, as well as the emergency services entities within these governments. The purpose of this selection was to develop articles on governments affecting the most citizens.

The salary information garnered from these states were a combination of existing online resources and state Freedom of Information Act requests sent out to the governments.

Importance of public employee pay disclosure

In July 2010, the LA Times uncovered that officials in Bell, California were making remarkably high salaries.^[16] The Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo was earning a yearly $787,637. It was later uncovered that Rizzo's total compensation after taking benefits into account topped $1.5 million dollars a year.^[17]

For comparison:^[16]

• Manhattan Beach with about 7,000 fewer people than Bell paid its most recent city manager $257,484 a year.
• Long Beach, with a population close to 500,000, pays its city manager $235,000 annually.
• Los Angeles County pays its Chief Executive William T Fujioka $338,458.

Corruption solution

After the Los Angeles Times report, governments began to proactively disclose salary information of its employees. Before the end of the Summer of 2010, more than a dozen cities in Orange County, for example, posted salary information on the front pages of their websites.^[18]

The cost of transparency websites maintaining such information ranges from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands. These websites also save money, and this often is not taken into account when measuring costs.

Citizens upset about the breach of trust and armed with information formed a group called the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse, which pushed for an independent audit of city salaries and contracts.^[19]

Citizens, empowered with information, are key to keeping government free from corruption and efficient. A study published by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia revealed that the city of Philadelphia has a problem with the efficiency and costs of public employee pensions. ^[20]. The amount that Philadelphia pays to pension recipients limits the city’s ability to use its budget effectively. The report revealed that there were more individuals receiving pension benefits—33,907 claimants in 2006—than workers in the city—28,701. ^[20] The authors of the study recommend three steps towards addressing the problem of high costs in pensions. ^[20] First, improve data collection so that decision-making in terms of pension policies is more informed. Second, promote transparency for better accountability to citizens. Third, reduce costs and use the savings for developing Philadelphia.

Resistance to public employee salary data as public records

The idea of making public employee salaries is relatively new. In 2008, several local government employee associations and unions protested the posting of state employee salaries by the newspaper The Sacramento Bee.^{[21] [22]} At the time, it was seen as a safety risk and invasion of privacy.

Sunshine Review aims in posting salary information

Often times, publicly posted salaries leave out important information. Salary schedules can be published are ranges, not as specific take-home compensation.^{[18] [17]}And high-level, highly-paid positions are often not disclosed proactively.^[18] Additionally, salaries leave out compensation received through health and retirement benefits, as well as benefits such as commuter allowances and cell phone reimbursements. This project aims to close the gap and provide a more accurate picture of public employee salaries for the sake of public education and transparency.

External links

• Data Mine: Search WI Teacher Salaries, Postcrescent.com, 2011

Private vs. public salaries

• "Out of Balance? Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation of 20 Years," Center for State & Local Government Excellence, 2010
• "WI One of 41 States Where Public Workers Earn More," USAToday.com, 2011
• "Public Workers by the Numbers," LaCrosse Tribune, February 17, 2011
• "Are WI Public Employees Over-Compensated," Economic Policy Institute, February 10, 2011
• Fox Business Network's Eric Bolling says Wisconsin teachers get compensated nearly double those in private sector, PolitiFact.com, 2011
• "Are Wisconsin’s Sate and Local Workers Overpaid?," Washington Post, February 19, 2011
• "For Anyone Who Thinks WI State Workers are Overpaid…," Business Insider, February 17, 2011

References

	v • d • e Wisconsin local government employee salaries
By type	Cities Counties • School districts • Law enforcement • Fire departments
Local governments	Milwaukee County • Dane County • Waukesha County • Brown County • Milwaukee School District • Madison Metropolitan School District • Green Bay Area School District • Racine School District • Madison • Milwaukee • Milwaukee Office of the Sheriff, Wisconsin • Dane County Sheriff's Office, Wisconsin • Waukesha County Sheriff, Wisconsin • Brown County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin • Madison Police Department, Wisconsin • Milwaukee Police Department, Wisconsin • Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin • City of Madison Fire Department, Wisconsin • Milwaukee Fire Department, Wisconsin

	v • d • e State of Wisconsin Madison (capital)
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Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of Towns | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
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