Madison Police Department, Wisconsin, 2011-2012

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Madison Police Department salaries are public records under the Wisconsin Open Records Law.

Salaries

As of January 2012, the starting salary for a beginning police officer was $43,614, with a raise after six months to $48,496.

Salary databases are maintained online by Madison.com. Information from 2010 shows a total of 23 employees earning over $100,000 per year. The ten highest paid police department employees were:

Name	Position	2010 total pay
Noble L. Wray	Police Chief	$139,890.74
John T. Davenport	Assistant Police Chief	$131,418.76
Randall J. Gaber	Assistant Police Chief	$131,400.39
Carl F. Gloede	Police Captain	$120,174.24
Richard A. Bach	Police Captain	$120,004.82
Susan F. Williams	Police Captain	$118,952.86
Thomas M. Snyder	Police Captain	$116,767.66
Cameron S. McLay	Police Captain	$116,427.51
Mary A. Schauf	Police Captain	$115,345.51
Joseph A. Balles	Police Captain	$114,028.38

The 2011 adopted budget contained expenditures equivalent to 576.75 full-time employees. In total, it allocated $34,782,089 to employee salaries. It also included $2,221,033 in overtime pay.

Benefits

The 2011 adopted budget allocated $18,372,627 in fringe benefits.

Police department employees are eligible for health insurance coverage through five options, some of which come at no cost to the employee. Employees have a 37.5 hour work week. They receive wage, life and disability insurance. Employee pensions are covered through the Wisconsin Retirement System, with contributions made by both the employer and employee. An educational incentive pay plan is available after 42 months of service.

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.

External links

• State Budget Solutions -- Wisconsin