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Houston employee salaries, 2008-2011
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Houston employee salaries are public records under the Texas Public Information Act.[1]
Salaries
According to The Texas Tribune, Houston had a total of 17,591 employees at an annual salary cost of $888,942,237 in 2011.[2]
- The average salary was $50,533.
- The median was $48,421.
- The highest salary was $238,254 for David Persse, the EMS Physician Director.
- The lowest salary was $321.
- There were 25 employees earning over $150,000 a year.
The following table outlines the top 10 salaries in 2011:[3]
| Name | Title | Department | Hire date | Annual salary |
| David E Persse | EMS Physician Director, MD (Exe Lev) | Fire | 10/7/1996 | $238,254 |
| Charles A Mcclelland | Police Chief | Police | 5/23/1977 | $211,150 |
| David Morris Feldman | City Attorney | Legal | 5/3/2010 | $211,150 |
| Daniel W. Krueger | Public Works Director | Public Works & Engineering | 7/29/2010 | $200,000 |
| Chris Souders | Associate Ems Physician Director | Fire | 9/5/2001 | $198,500 |
| Lynette Kay Fons | First Assistant City Attorney | Legal | 5/17/2010 | $185,400 |
| Joseph A Fenninger | Deputy Director-Finance/Administration (Exe Lev) | Police | 2/1/2007 | $183,504 |
| Tommy Paul Allen | First Assistant City Attorney | Legal | 6/18/2007 | $180,306 |
| Terry Almon Garrison | Fire Chief | Fire | 9/16/2010 | $175,000 |
| David Jay Morgan | Deputy Director (Exe Lev) | Police | 7/31/2009 | $174,683 |
Benefits
According to the City of Houston website, the following benefits are offered to employees:[4]
- Health and dental
- Life Insurance
- Healthcare flexible spending account
- Long-term disability
- Vacation, sick days, holidays and wellness leave.
- Defined benefit plan or 457 plan
Phone use
From January 1, 2008 through January 31, 2011, Houston gave out 13,880 cell phones to employees.[5]
| Department | Device units |
| Houston Police Department | 4179 |
| Houston Fire Department | 1907 |
| Emergency Management | 117 |
| Municipal Courts | 124 |
| Municipal Courts Judicial | 3 |
| Public Works and Engineering | 2487 |
| Solid Waste | 123 |
| General Services | 264 |
| Houston Airport | 868 |
| Housing and Community Development | 106 |
| Houston Public Library | 115 |
| Parks and Recreation Department | 247 |
| Health and Human Services | 1765 |
| Convention and Entertainment | 120 |
| Mayor's Office | 86 |
| Affirmative Action | 21 |
| City Council | 129 |
| City Controller Office | 17 |
| Administration and Regulatory Affairs | 40 |
| Finance | 629 |
| Fleet Management | 37 |
| Information Technology | 352 |
| Planning and Development | 29 |
| Human Resources | 73 |
| Legal Department | 37 |
| General Government | 5 |
| Grand Total | 13880 |
Car use
Sunshine Review filed a Texas Public Information Act request with the [Houston, Texas|City of Houston] for information on city-owned automobiles and maintenance costs. The information returned on May 3, 2011 is below. The response was signed by Janice Evans, Director of Communications in the Office of the Mayor.
| Department | Number of take-home vehicles |
| Administration and Regulatory Affairs | 10 |
| Aviation | 11 |
| Fire | 238 |
| General Service | 24 |
| Health | 6 |
| Human Resources | 11 |
| Information Technology | 6 |
| Mayor\'s Office | 5 |
| Police | 747 |
| Public Works | 364 |
| Parks & Recreation | 22 |
| Solid Waste | 5 |
| TOTAL NUMBER OF VEHICLES | 1449 |
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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6]
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
- ↑ Are city employees' salaries public information or are they protected for personal privacy?—Texas Center for Community Journalism
- ↑ Texas Tribune "Houston Salaries"
- ↑ Texas Tribune "Houston Salaries"
- ↑ Houston Employee Benefits
- ↑ Houston City Phones
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 '’Philadelphia’s Quiet Crisis: The Rising Cost of Employee Benefits, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, January 23, 2008
