Fellow blogger Pat Andrews has compiled a list of city-county employees earning more than $100,000 a year. The list is staggering, particularly within the Department of Public Safety, which is loaded down with high-paid pencil pushers sitting behind a desk. There are individuals with higher ranks and virtually no management responsibilities pulling down outrageous salaries. There are now 79 city employees earning more than $100,000 a year, the bulk of whom are within the Department of Public Safety. Public Safety Director Troy Riggs comes in with the highest salary of any city employee, earning just shy of $139,000 a year. A DWI sergeant, Michael Duke, is being paid an outrageous salary of $130,000 a year. He apparently gets bonus for higher volumes of drunk driving arrests. Bart McAtee is getting paid over $118,000 a year to serve as a lieutenant in charge of traffic enforcement. There's a Steve Graham with the title of private first class earning over $103,000 a year. The county has 31 employees earning more than $100,000. Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry tops out the list with a salary over a little over $140,000. Sheriff John Layton is getting paid over $135,000 a year while our clerk of courts, Beth White, earns $80,500 a year.
There are the double dippers that really stick in your crawl. Vernon Brown, who just stepped down as a city-county councilor, earns nearly $100,000 a year as a battalion chief in the fire department on top of the approximately $15,000 a year he pulled down as a member of the council. Brown is a candidate for Warren Township Trustee this year, a job that pays $47,520 a year. Reliable sources say Brown plans to continue working both as a full-time battalion chief and township trustee if he is elected, allowing him to earn over $160,000 a year from two government paychecks. City-County Councilor Mary Moriarty-Adams earns over $70,000 a year from her make-work job in the county assessor's office in addition to the $16,000 she earned as a councilor, providing a combined $86,000 from two government jobs. Her husband, who draws a pension as a retired police officer, is also drawing a big paycheck for a make-work job in the sheriff's department. Councilor Steve Talley gets about $37,000 a year for a make-work civilian job at IMPD, in addition to the approximately $15,000 a year he makes as a city councilor. Like Brown, Talley is running for a township trustee's job in Lawrence Township this year. That job pays $40,000 a year. A new state law prohibits elected council members like Brown, Adams and Talley from serving as city-county council members and working for either the county or the city at the same time.
Chew on some of these figures while these SOBs prepare to raise your taxes again for public safety. In the words of then-candidate Greg Ballard in 2007, there's a lot of fluff in that budget. Folks complaining about the lack of police officers should start by eliminating at least 50% of the dead weight they have in glorified desk jobs paying big six-figure salaries with take-home car privileges.
18 comments:
Look at these hogs feeding at the trough of funds extorted as "taxes" from the honest working people of the County. Yeah, I said 'extorted'...that's really what it is.
Stunning to see in print that the people paying the salaries [TAXPAYERS) have nowhere near the income of these professional bottom feeders nor do everyday taxpayers have the benefits, the investment plans, the holidays off, ad nauseam, that these boar hogs enjoy.
Double and triple dipping CC Councilors {Hello, Warren Township!!!} and IFD and "R" AND "D" politicos should be ashamed at how high they live off the backs of those who toil so hard for so little compared to the easy life of the politically connected.
Just wanted to vomit when I saw the list Pat Andrews compiled... The day is coming when the people will reach a point where the result may not be very pretty... or peaceful.
No wonder local, state and federal is militarizing... growing their armed forces because they know at some point the people will revolt.
The salaries of most rank-and-file city and county workers has barely kept pace with inflation, if at all. Those on the upper end have seen their salaries skyrocket just like the problem we see in the corporate world where top executives' salaries dwarf the pay of average employees, many of whom work just as hard and receive far fewer benefits and perks. The Public Safety salaries are completely out of hand and a hatchet needs to be taken to them. The problem is that elected officials pander to the FOP and Firefighters union for support by promising raises that aren't afforded to other city and county employees. At the same time, an increasing number of police and firefighters are moving into the suburban counties where they contribute no taxes to support their growing salaries.
How could Ernest Malone have big federal tax liens filed against him when he earns more than a $130,000 a year?
Couple of quick points, retirement dollars are based upon your highest five year average and police / fire retirements are vested in twenty years. Higher salaries create higher pensions.
"The salaries of most rank-and-file city and county workers has barely kept pace with inflation, if at all."
Mr. Welsh, don't feel too sorry for those rank-and-file workers. I was on our city council (not in Marion County) and I own my own business w/ about 20 employees, mostly entry level or slightly above.
I can tell you that with cash compensation, paid time off, paid medical insurance, and other paid benefits, these folks are doing VERY well. A typical clerk or staff person in a position that require minimal expertise,technical knowledge, or specialized skills is still pulling down the equivalent of a $40-$45k private sector job. That's not going to make them rich, but it's damn good compared to what I make given the hours, responsibility, risks, and my tax burden....and I'm the friggin' owner.
You are correct that police and (especially) fire are the grossest abusers of the compensation game but the average municipal employee is also bellied up to the trough. They just don't have the prime position.
I agree they've fared better than workers in the private sector, who on average have seen their wages and standard of living over the past couple of decades fall not rise in real dollars.
On the public safety pensions, so many of those high-paid employees do just what Brian Sanford did. He retires from a $135,000 a year job, starts drawing a pension and then goes back on the payroll as a consultant or civilian employee, allowing him to make even more than he earned before retirement.
I was told that McAtee retired recently and is now another high ranking deputy at the Sheriff's Dept (with a motorcycle).
Steve Talley is a very nice guy, I've known him for years. However, his role as a Crime Watch Specialist is a slap in the face to the residents on North East District. He has held more jobs in city/county gov't that one can fathom. A crime watch specialists position pays more more than $31,710 annually. He was given that job, to the chagrin of other, more qualified candidates, particularly bi-lingual applicants.
The DWI Sgt is paid approx $70,000 a year in salary. If you work DUI enforcement, you work at night. Thus, all your court (and with DUI arrests, most go to court), all that time is overtime. He also is in charge of all the DUI grant scheduling for IMPD. Those grant officers get thousands of impaired drivers off the streets before they kill someone. The Sgt works the grants most weekends. All the grant hours worked by officers from every department in Marion County are at their overtime rate. It is Federal and State money specifically designated to arresting impaired drivers. What you don't see are the birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, school plays, athletic events, etc that are missed because people are dedicated to getting impaired drivers off the street. All that is seen are dollar signs and people, you included Gary, just assume it is not earned or worth it. Next time anyone's family is damaged by a drunk driver, go ahead and complain about the overtime being earned by the officer that puts the offender in jail.
Not just that: I can personally tell you that Sgt. Michael Duke is a formidable witness and an excellent OWI investigator. His affidavits are meticulous and descriptive. additionally, he never has taken personal offense whenever I have had to cross-examine or question him: he genuinely understands the defense attorney's role in the criminal justice system. Finally - and most importantly - Sgt. Duke is truthful on the stand: if there is some oversight on his part during an investigation, he admits it.
Mr. Lam, You must only have experience representing regular joe citizens. Whenever a high-profile person gets arrested, their high-paid attorneys seem to be able to find a way to weasle out of the charges, if not get them reduced.
Take a look at Indianapolis EMS. They are also county employees, as a result of Health and Hospital Corp as their parent company. The ratio is 4:1. There are four street providers (EMTs, Medics) for every administrator.
I agree with Indy cop. DUI, Seatbelt and Speeding task force, is paid for with Fed grants, with all the cops working overtime at the Fed expense. The opportunity was offered to all LEO's.... It's simple, the harder you worked, the more money you made. If the rest of you wanna pick the fly poop outta the pepper, have at it
Only a person feeding at the public trough would excuse how much someone is paid on the basis of whether their paycheck was paid for with federal or local tax dollars. I'm a taxpayer and it's just wrong that some police officer writing DUI tickets is getting paid $130,000 a year.
Anon 2:02pm
Apparently you have a total dislike for certain hard working cops who are willing to give up their days off to earn some extra money. I can't tell you what to do the next time someone goes speeding through your neighborhood and kills your dog, or some drunk drivers harms you or one of your family members, the one thing you should do is check your pepper shaker for fly excrement
The list iof salaries is not updated. IMPD crime watch coordinators DO NOT make 52,000 per year. Some officers have changed positions and their salaries and positions have not been updated on this list to reflect accurately. Please do your due diligence and confirm these numbers and positions before attempting to lump every public servant together with your hogwash journalism. Thank You.
Diane Moorman
Crime Watch Coordinator
IMPD Northwest District
Indycrimewatch.com
Well said Diane..... Work hard and keep your salary low, these people will gripe at anything
@ Indy Retired Cop:
Perhaps things have changed since your time at IPD/IMPD?
I've had a drunken driver damage my property and then leave the scene. The wait was 3 hours for an officer to show up and take a report. A neighbor informed the officer as to whom was the driver and nearly one year later I've never heard from a detective as promised. Luckily,the damage was just under a thousand dollars and the drunken driver's dad paid for the damage.
IMPD under the "leadership" of Hite and Ballard is completely broken. Of course,there's never a shortage of officers spending time drinking coffee and hanging out at the nearest Speedway convenience store.
Ps. I've been told if one calls up 911,you're given a menu of choices and/or can be put on hold before your call is answered by a real human.
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