Macomb County Sheriff's Office, Michigan, 2010-2011
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Macomb County Sheriff's Office employee salaries are public record.
Salaries
Macomb County posted a job opening in December 2010 for a Temporary Sheriff at $106,913 a year. The only qualifications listed were that the applicant had to be at least 18, a resident of Macomb County, a U.S. citizen and registered to vote.[1]
Pensions
Twenty-one of the top 25 pensions in Macomb County are allocated to command officers and deputies. The high pension costs are due to the inclusion of overtime pay in the average compensation the pension is based on. Thus, pensions generally outpace base pay by 110 to 150 percent.[2]
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):
1. California
2. Florida
3. Illinois
4. Michigan
5. New Jersey
6. Pennsylvania
7. Texas
8. Wisconsin
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 method 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.
A study published by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia said the city of Philadelphia faced challenges owing to the cost of public employee pensions.[3] The report claimed the amount that Philadelphia paid to pension recipients limited the city’s ability to use its budget effectively.
The report said there were more individuals receiving pension benefits—33,907 claimants in 2006—than workers in the city—28,701.[3] The authors recommended three steps towards addressing the problem of high costs in pensions: improved data collection, expanded transparency initiatives, and reductions to the city's overall budget.[3]
Salary schedules can be published as ranges, not as specific compensation figures, and may leave out compensation received through health and retirement benefits, as well as benefits such as commuter allowances and cell phone reimbursements. This project aimed to close the gap and provide a more accurate picture of public employee salaries for the sake of public education and transparency.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Why becoming Macomb County's Sheriff could be the worst job ever, plus five best pop culture sheriffs, December 2, 2010
- ↑ Macomb Daily "Sheriff's Office retirees go for the gold" (dead link)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 '’Philadelphia’s Quiet Crisis: The Rising Cost of Employee Benefits, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, January 23, 2008
