Macomb County employee salaries, 2007-2010

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Macomb County employee salaries are public information under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

Salaries

The Macomb County website includes a list of positions, along with the minimum and maximum salary for each, for 2010.

According to a 2007 salary database created by The Lansing State Journal, Macomb County had 1,300 public employees.

• The highest paid employee was Psychiatrist Padma Surapaneni in the Department of Community Health with a salary of $156,871.44.
• There was one employee that earned over $150,000 a year.

The following are the top ten salaries for Macomb County in 2007:

Name	Department	Title	Salary
Surapaneni, Padma	Community Health	Psychiatrist-A	$156,871.44
Nicholas, Angelo	Human Services	Social Services Division Admin	$105,713
Corsi, Tony P	Corrections	Dentist-A	$102,666.96
Wolfenbarger, William H	Corrections	Senior Executive Warden	$101,805
Brock, Yvonne V	Human Services	Social Services Division Admin	$92,191
Buckner, Drew L	Transportation	State Administrative Manager-1	$90,785
Robinson, Rosalind G	Treasury	Auditor Manager-5	$90,598.32
Mensah, Vincent K	Corrections	State Administrative Manager-1	$89,765
Sera, Patricia R	Human Services	Social Services Division Admin	$88,118
Baerwalde, Ann C	Labor & Economic Growth	Admin Law Examiner-E	$87,090.48

Only one employee earned more than $150,000 in 2007. Three of the top earners in Macomb County were in the Human Resources Department. Two of the top earners for the county worked in the Corrections Department.

Car use

The county has posted its policy regarding vehicle use.

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

• Michigan local government salary: Counties
• Public employee salary

External links

• Macomb County Financial Reports & Documents
• Agreement Between County Of Macomb And Police Officers Association Of Michigan Representing Deputies/Dispatchers, January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2011
• State Budget Solutions—Michigan

• Budget and Salary/Compensation Transparency Reporting—South Lake Schools