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Milwaukee Police Department, Wisconsin, 2009-2011
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Milwaukee Police Department salaries are public records under the Wisconsin Open Records Law.
Salaries
Milwaukee Police Department salaries are posted online at WisconsinOpenGov.org, a database maintained by The MacIver Institute. In 2009, four employees earned over $150,000 in total compensation, including base salary, comp time, overtime pay and supplemental pay, out of 2,835 employees listed. The top 10 highest-paid department employees in 2009 were:[1]
| Name | Position | Total compensation |
| Philip T. Sliwinski | Detective | $376,995 |
| Kenneth R. Grams | Lieutenant of Detectives | $166,965 |
| Richard Dollhopf | Lieutenant of Police | $157,257 |
| Steven J. Braunreiter | Police Sergeant | $152,726 |
| Edward A. Flynn | Chief of Police | $149,389 |
| Keith A. Balash | Lieutenant of Detectives | $149,367 |
| Scott D. Charles | Police Sergeant | $146,881 |
| Thomas H. Welch | Lieutenant of Detectives | $142,953 |
| Kirsten M. Webb | Lieutenant of Detectives | $142,929 |
| Aaron M. Raap | Lieutenant of Detectives | $141,926 |
The average base pay salary for a police department employee was $48,177. The total payroll reported for the police department in the dataset was $169,993.81, with $13,134,381 spent on overtime in 2009.
Police department expenditures on salaries and wages decreased to $155,296,447 by budget year 2011.[2]
Benefits
According to budget documents, the department spent $59,012,650 on fringe benefits in FY 2011.[2] The department's benefits package is negotiated with the Milwaukee Police Association. It includes two weeks paid vacation after a year of service, 12 paid days off as holidays, and 15 paid sick days per year. Employees receive health, dental and life insurance. They are also enrolled in the City of Milwaukee Retirement System. Employees can receive up to $1,200 annually in text book reimbursement, $300 annually in uniform allowance, and up to $770 a year in educational pay.[3]
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.[4] 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.[4] 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.[4]
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
Footnotes
