Montgomery County employee salaries, 2008-2011

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This page describes the salaries and benefits of Montgomery County employees.

Salaries and benefits

Salaries

Sunshine Review reviewed Montgomery County salaries from 2008 to 2011. The information was gathered from county data after Sunshine Review filed a public records request. According to 2011 payroll data, there were four Montgomery County employees earning over $150,000 annually. The county had 2,873 employees on its payroll at the time.

• Joseph DiMino, the county health director, earned the highest salary at $191,538.
• District Attorney Risa Ferman earned $160,850.
• Jack Pond, the chief information officer, took home $159,565.
• COO Robert Graf earned $156,854

Additionally, there were 22 other employees earning over $100,000. Some of those employees included::

• County Solicitor Barry Miller, who earned a salary of $134,765.
• Economic Development Director Kenneth Klothen had a salary of $131,454.
• Randall Schaible, the county chief financial officer, earned $119,025.
• Eric Goldstein, director of mental health services, had a salary of $121,586.
• Chief Detective Oscar Vance earned $110,002.

James Matthews, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, earned a salary of $90,846. Joseph Hoeffel and Bruce Castor, the other two members of the county board, earned salaries of $87,647.

Benefits

Montgomery County provides its employees with medical, dental and vision coverage. 2011 coverage rates were as follows:

• Under medical coverage, a single employee paid $746.79 while an employee carrying two additional people paid $2,146.51.
• Vision care was $5.06 for all levels of coverage.
• Dental care was $31.32 for a single payer and $94.86 for an employee carrying two additional people.

Teachers

See also: Pennsylvania public school, salary

Nearly 7% of public school teachers in Bucks and Montgomery Counties earned more than $100,000 in December 2010, and 36% made more than $80,000.

Phone use

In 2008, Montgomery County spent $259,793.82 for mobile telephones and pagers, according to information secured by Sunshine Review through a public records request.

• The county Health Department spent $31,983.06 for mobile telephone service.
• Public Safety spent $12,678.03 for cellular service.
• Juvenile Probation spent $28,518.67.
• Adult Probation spent $37,909.97.

In 2010, costs for cellular telephones and pagers totaled $219,497.26.

Car use

There were 287 vehicles operated by Montgomery County, according to data received from the county through a public records request. The information provided by the county included the department to which the vehicles belonged as well as the make and model. It did not contain information on the price of the vehicle or maintenance costs.

• The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office operated 70 vehciles, including four motorcycles, two buses and multiple SUVs and trucks.
• Fifty-four of the vehicles belonged to the county Department of Public Safety and ranged in style from armored vehicles to SUVs to hazmat trucks.
• The county library operated eight vehicles, including two book mobiles.

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

• Pennsylvania local government salary: Counties
• Public employee salary
• Montgomery County Sheriff's Department

External links

• State Budget Solutions -- Pennsylvania

• Montgomery County Web site