Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida, 2011-2013

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Florida Department of Law Enforcement employee salaries are public records under the Florida Sunshine Law.

Governor Rick Scott's office launched a website on March 17, 2011 that provides access to frequently requested public records and information, including a state employee salary database and a list of state pension benefits that exceed $100,000.

The website, FloridaHasARightToKnow.com, also includes contract records, information on rule-making statuses and procedures and links to other open government resources.

Gun registry report

In November 2013, a Florida state auditor general’s report found that the Department of Law Enforcement's state gun registry MECOM, which is used for preventing the sale of firearms to those who are considered “mentally defective” by the state and those committed to mental institutions, suffers from "shoddy record keeping." The report also stated that some records "may not have been recorded," leading to "an increased risk" that a legally declared mentally unfit person could potentially purchase a weapon.

"Our audit tests disclosed that the data was often not timely recorded and, in some instances, may not have been accurately and completely recorded," the report stated. The auditor’s report also found that a data entry period between July 2011 and April 2013 showed no records had been created for 10 Florida counties going back to 2007.

Salaries

According to FloridaHasARightToKnow.com, there are 19 employees that earned over $100,000 a year in 2011.

• The highest salary was for Executive Director Gerald Bailey, who earned $128,749.92 a year as of 2011.

Last name	First name	Class title	State hire date	Salary
Bailey	Gerald	Executive Director-Fdle	1987-12-16	$128,749.92
Zadra	Mark	Assistant Executive Director-Fdle	1978-03-06	$124,381.40
Madden	James	Assistant Executive Director-Fdle	1990-05-07	$124,000.24
Dawley	Joyce	Director-Fdle	1981-05-18	$118,275.82
Pape	Dominick	Director-Fdle	1988-03-14	$115,565.84
Uzzell	Donna	Director, Criminal Justice Info - Fdle	1993-10-05	$115,450.66
Ladner	Robert	Director-Fdle	1995-03-27	$112,000.20
Ramage	Michael	General Counsel-Fdle	1980-05-05	$111,060.04
Etheridge	Jay	Florida Domestic Security Chief-Fdle	1990-05-07	$111,044.70
Desposito	Steven	Director-Fdle	1993-08-16	$110,000.02

Benefits

Special agents for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are offered the following benefits:

• Health insurance
• Dental, vision, life, cancer and disability insurance
• Retirement plan (no employee contribution)
• Deferred compensation
• Incentive pay
• Tuition reimbursement
• Equipment provided
• Take-home vehicle
• Clothing allowance
• Leave: sick, vacation, holidays

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. 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. 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.

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

• Public employee salaries

External links

• State Budget Solutions -- Florida