Hillsborough County employee salaries, 2008-2011

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Hillsborough County employee salaries are public records under the Florida Sunshine Law.

Salaries and benefits

Sunshine Review submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the county seeking employee salary and benefits information. The county responded with annual salary data for 4,906 total employees. Salaries of key county officials, as well as any employees earning over $150,000 per year as of 2011, include:

Name	Position	Annual salary
Vernard I. Adams	Chief Medical Examiner	$250,411.20
Donald R. Odom	County Attorney	$205,171.20
Michael S. Merrill	County Administrator	$195,000.00
Laura S. Hair	Associate Medical Examiner	$186,076.80
Mary K. Mainland	Deputy Chief Medical Examiner	$185,723.20
Leszek Chrostowski	Associate Medical Examiner	$178,048.00
Elise F. Arbefeville	Associate Medical Examiner	$174,990.40
Christine M. Beck	Senior Assistant County	$168,521.60
Richard D. Garrity	Executive Director EPC	$165,048.00
Mary Helen Farris	Senior Assistant County	$156,790.40
Robert E. Brazel	Senior Assistant County	$156,748.80
Rogelio Dean	Director Information and TE	$155,292.80
Eric R. Johnson	Director Management and Budget	$151,590.40
Allen H. Higginbotham	County Commissioner	$100,753.12
Mark S. Sharpe	County Commissioner	$91,593.84
Kenneth L. Hagan, Jr.	County Commissioner	$91,593.84
Lesley J. Miller	County Commissioner	$91,593.84
Kevin A. Beckner	County Commissioner	$91,593.84
Sandra L. Murman	County Commissioner	$91,593.84
Victor D. Crist	County Commissioner	$91,593.84

According to the information, combined annual salaries totaled $232,291,659.31.

Phone use

Sunshine Review submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information regarding county cell phones. The county's total cell phone count from January 2008 to January 2011 was as follows:

Month	Total cell phones
Jan, 08	3,279
Feb, 08	3,285
Mar, 08	3,285
Apr, 08	3,268
May, 08	2,742
Jun, 08	2,742
Jul, 08	2,737
Aug, 08	2,738
Sep, 08	2,745
Oct, 08	2,762
Nov, 08	2,765
Dec, 08	2,765
Jan, 09	2,766
Feb, 09	2,813
Mar, 09	2,883
Apr, 09	2,883
May, 09	3,219
Jun, 09	3,194
Jul, 09	3,193
Aug, 09	3,193
Sep. 09	3,193
Oct, 09	2,894
Nov, 09	3,028
Dec, 09	3,028
Jan, 10	2,991
Feb, 10	2,994
Mar, 10	2,985
Apr, 10	2,742
May, 10	2,600
Jun, 10	2,512
Jul, 10	2,419
Aug, 10	2,311
Sep, 10	2,266
Oct, 10	2,038
Nov, 10	2,011
Dec, 10	1,994
Jan, 11	2,015

Car use

A Freedom of Information Request with the county sought information on county take-home vehicles. The county reported a total of 179 vehicles parked off-site. 164 of those vehicles were parked at the employee's residence, while 15 parked at remote county facilities. 127 of these vehicles were assigned to the Public Utilities Department. Vehicles were assigned to the following departments:

Department	Total take-home vehicles
Public Utilities Department	127
Traffic	32
Fire Rescue	8
Planning and Growth	4
Public Works/Roads	3
Code Enforcement	2
Mosquito Control	2
Information Technology	1

County commuting costs were reported as follows (excluding labor costs):

Department	Average remote days	Total cost
Public Utilities	54	$108,597
P/Works Traffic	240	$110,157
Fire/Rescue	240	$33,078
Planning & Growth	240	$18,064
P/Works Roads	240	$19,046
Planning & Growth	240	$1612
Mosquito Control	240	$10,791
Information Tech	240	$744
Total		$302,089

The county further broke down the usage of the vehicles used by the Public Utilities Department, claiming that only four vehicles are taken home more than 200 days per year. On any given day, an average of 81 county vehicles are parked off-site.

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