Oakland County employee salaries, 2008-2012
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Oakland County public employee salaries for Oakland County, Michigan employees are posted online by the county in the form of salary schedules.[1] In 2008, the county had 4,000 employees and 2,000 retirees.[2]
Salaries
In 2012, a report by Hour Detroit indicated that the county executive made $173,500 annually while county commissioners made $33,782 annually.[3]
According to The Lansing State Journal, Oakland County had 1,265 public employee salary records.[4]
- The highest paid employee was Gregory Johnson, who was a Senior Management Executive for the Department of Transportation, with a salary of $118,923.
- There were no employees who earned over $150,000 a year.
The following were the top 10 salaries for Oakland County in 2007:[5]
| Name | Department | Title | Salary |
| Johnson, Gregory C | Transportation | Senior Management Executive | $118,923 |
| Goldberg, Howard E | Attorney General | Attorney Administrator-2 | $117,531 |
| Kratofil, Joseph A | Transportation | State Office Administrator | $105,728 |
| Travis, Cynthia D | Human Services | State Division Administrator | $105,728 |
| Sewell, Raymond K | Labor & Economic Growth | Admin Law Examiner-2a Fzn | $105,652.80 |
| Tavoularis, Leonidas | Labor & Economic Growth | Admin Law Examiner-2a Fzn | $105,652.80 |
| Warner, Margaret | Human Services | Social Services Division Admin | $104,738 |
| Mcdowell, Linda P | Attorney General | Attorney-Senior A | $98,845.92 |
| Farmer, William J | Labor & Economic Growth | Admin Law Examiner-A | $98,845.92 |
| Asevedo, Rosendo | Attorney General | Attorney-Senior A | $98,845.92 |
According to a press release from Oakland County, there would be no salary changes for 2012 and 2013, but there might be a 1% salary increase in 2014.[6]
The average teacher salary in Oakland County was $66,804 (ranging from $55,300 to $74,913), above the national average. The average salary in the United States was $46,602 and in Michigan $62,262.[7]
Benefits
The Oakland County website has a benefits page and some of the benefits for employees hired after 2003 include:[8]
- Medical insurance
- Retirement options
- Reimbursement accounts
- Dental
- Wellness program
- Short-term disability
- Life insurance
Beginning July 1, 2010, all employees who were members of the Michigan Public School Employees' Retirement System would contribute 3 percent of their pay to an irrevocable health-care trust.[9]
Schools
In many Michigan school districts, school boards and administration were trying to balance the budgets by freezing or reducing wages and benefits of the employees who made up 80 to 90 percent or more of district expenditures.
Five teachers’ unions in Oakland County agreed early on in June of 2010 to give up some planned-for salary increases and to make concessions in their health-care plans. The concessions amounted to almost $5.4 million, in an attempt to close the $7.1 million deficit. They included Bloomfield Hills, Lake Orion, Oxford, Walled Lake and Waterford school districts.
Although reluctant to make the cuts, union leaders cited the district's willingness to make major operational changes and utilize other sources of money (primarily fund equity money) and not just employee pay and benefits to balance the budget, as a source of their willingness to compromise. Superintendent William Skilling and all administrators, supervisors, and directors also forfeited their salary increases, in a show of solidarity with the unions.[10]
But in some districts, unions were fighting to protect teachers from future cuts in the face of concessions and compromises already in past contracts. Union leader Kim Plarski of West Bloomfield Education said teachers were unfairly bearing the entire burden of deficits. Refusing to comply with the district request that teachers take a 10 percent salary reduction for one year and a step freeze (amounting to $4.2 million), Plarski stated that the district should have taken earlier steps, such as consolidating schools and adjusting transportation, instead of putting the burden on teachers.
The legislature was also under fire as teachers, unions and school districts pushed to maintain or increase school funding. Additionally, Plarski argued that the legislature should allow school districts to cross county lines to get health insurance coverage as a pool so as to diffuse hikes in premiums. For a district of 400 teachers, the price tag for health insurance is roughly $6 million annually.[11]
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.[12] 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.[12] 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.[12]
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
- Michigan local government salary: Counties
- Public employee salary
- Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Michigan
External links
- Oakland County Michigan official website
- Retiree Health Savings Plans For Public Sector Employers, April 2008
- State Budget Solutions -- Michigan
Footnotes
- ↑ Salary Schedule FY 2012, Oakland County
- ↑ Retiree Health Savings Plans For Public Sector Employers, April 2008
- ↑ Hour Detroit, "Ranking Local Government Leaders' Salaries," February 2012
- ↑ Lansing State Journal "State of Michigan Salary Search"
- ↑ Lansing State Journal "State of Michigan Salary Search"
- ↑ Employees may see 1% Salary Increase in 2014
- ↑ "Schools, teachers struggle over shrinking funds," Oakland Press, June 13, 2010
- ↑ Active Employee Benefits for Hires after 2003
- ↑ "Schools, teachers struggle over shrinking funds," Oakland Press, June 13, 2010
- ↑ "Schools, teachers struggle over shrinking funds," Oakland Press, June 13, 2010
- ↑ "Schools, teachers struggle over shrinking funds," Oakland Press, June 13, 2010
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 '’Philadelphia’s Quiet Crisis: The Rising Cost of Employee Benefits, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, January 23, 2008
