6-figure salaries most common at USF, Legislature, Swiftmud

A visit with the highest-paid government employees would take you from the University of South Florida, to the state Legislature in Tallahassee, to the Southwest Florida Water Management District in Brooksville.

That's where you'll find the biggest share of people getting six-figure salaries among the two dozen state and local government agencies - employing more than 200,000 people - that are tracked by TBO.

It's a level of pay that's coming under greater scrutiny in tight economic times by a public that's always skeptical of who's on its payroll.

"When you're reeling under mountains of debt, you can't help but focus attention on these kinds of salaries," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based executive outplacement firm.

What's more, government work is conspicuous for its security these days: Unemployment among those on the public payroll was just 3.4 percent in November, even as it settled into double digits for the nation's workforce as a whole.

Government jobs overall actually increased by 261,000 from September through November, to 21.3 million, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.

Still, six-figure earners are typically receiving less than they could command in the private sector, said John Daly, director of the USF Public Administration Program, who has conducted salary comparison studies for local governments.

It's at the lower pay levels, including clerical jobs, where government is most competitive with private industry, Daly said. The reason: Benefits are often better, with many government agencies still offering pensions.

That doesn't mean high-wage public employees aren't facing more pressure today, Daly said. He noted the uproar over modest pay raises given this year by Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean to 10 top executives at a time when other employees were being laid off.

"It's a time of retrenchment," Daly said. "When you're flat or you're losing personnel, a sense of equity is very important among the public, probably moreso than in good times."

At USF, 94 of every 1,000 workers is making $100,000 a year or more, according to an analysis of records provided the Tribune by government agencies under Florida's public records law.

Also high on the list is the Florida Legislature, but not the 160 elected senators and representatives who run this branch of government. They make $30,336, while overall, 48 in 1,000 legislative employees make $100,000 a year or more. At Swiftmud, the water management district, 43 of every 1,000 workers make $100,000 or more.

At the other end of the scale are local school districts - Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco - where just 1 in 1,000 employees are pulling in six figures.

Daly said the wide differences among government agencies is driven by the level of education and expertise that goes with each job. Medical professionals, for example, who command high pay in the private sector, account for 46 of the 50 top salaries among employees of USF.

Some other highlights from the analysis of six-figure salaries:

• In Hillsborough County government, 27 people per 1,000 make $100,000 a year or more, but the top earners manage independent authorities that run the airport and port. County Administrator Bean ranks No. 5 on the list.

• Pinellas County government has 22 employees per 1,000 making six figures, compared with 11 per 1,000 for Pasco County and 7 per 1,000 for Polk County.

• The cities of Tampa and Lakeland each have 22 employees per 1,000 making six figures.

• Among Pinellas cities, the ratio of six-figure earners was 18 per 1,000 in St. Petersburg, 16 per 1,000 in Largo and 9 per 1,000 in Clearwater.

• The giant state of Florida Personnel System, with 133,000 employees, has 20 employees per 1,000 making a six-figure salary.