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Salaries
06/17/2010 10:45 PM by John M
The RTD recently used FOIA requests to score a bunch of salary data from “20 local governments and their school systems for all employees’ annual salaries”. The searchable online database is here.
Here are some quick numbers. Can you find something interesting?
- 7th District Councilperson Cynthia Newbille gets paid $25,000
- Her liaison Sam Patterson makes $56,814
- A Fire Fighter III makes $47,519
- A 6th grade history teacher with a Masters and 5 years experience makes $42,956
- A career Health teacher makes $71,664
- A middle school principal makes $97,266
- RPS Superintendent Yvonne Brandon makes $170,000
- Police Chief Norwood makes $149,800
- A Sector Lieutenant with the RPD makes $71,748
- A Police Officer I makes $38,000
- A Refuse Truck Operator makes $29,943
- Mayor Jones makes $125,000
I find the starting cop salary way low for the value we get and that our coucilperson is a pure gift (as is a 6th grade history teacher with a master’s and 5 years experience).
As a perspective, The 6-year school teacher, the starting police officer, the truck driver, etc, do not have enough income to buy a median priced house in the city. While the headlines are on the top end of the scale, understandably, at the street level, the salaries are pretty low. If you look at salary compression, from the lowest paid city employee at about $22,360 to the highest paid, CAO Marshall, the ratio is only about 7-1, where in the preivate sector it is often hundreds of times to 1.
The pay for the cop and the teacher are RAH-DUCK-U-LUZZ. So is the pay for councilperson. Where are our priorities, really?
#3, how is a councilperson’s salary rediculous? Most all of them have day jobs, so their salary is in addition to what they make otherwise. I don’t think general assembly salaries are much higher, and those folks have to be in Richmond for at least 60 days per year, time away from other jobs.
The cop and teacher salaries are not bad. Cops, while they do have a tough job, generally don’t need more than a high-school diploma. And the salary for the teacher is not for a full year of work and they are probably only about 30 years old. Master’s degrees generally don’t add much to income compared to a bachelor’s degree. Plus there are great benefits with government jobs. Both can easily afford a median-priced home in Richmond if they have a spouse with a job earning about the same amount.
#5: “Plus there are great benefits with government jobs.” They have completely paid retirement, which no longer exists in most private industry jobs (I don’t have company paid retirement, I work in a very large company but they got rid of that, I have to contribute to a 401k, and they match a small percent of what I contribute). Public sector jobs, from federal on down to local, have essentially company paid retirement plans financed by the taxpayer. I realize that the average 30 yr old doesn’t think about that, I sure did not when I was that age, but I do now.
The career health teacher making a little over $70,000 sounds about right. I know someone in her early fifties who had thirty years in and retired with full pay at about $75,000 – then went on to teach in a private school, still drawing the full retirement pay in addition to the new salary from private school.
One correction, though – the master’s degree does make a difference for teachers down the road. I know another person who went back for her masters at 50, just to up her teachers salary and then retire at the increased pay, which showed up in her retirement income. It might not make a big difference in the early years, but it does later on.
I really have a problem with the council liaison salary though – it’s way high IMHO. Also, what isn’t listed here is the salaries for school administration, I understand they are way high considering what they do (and don’t do, namely, teach). It’s my understanding that the administration downtown in city hall is paid much better than teachers.
#5 – exactly – you can afford to be a teacher if you have “a spouse” to support you.
For perspective, salary for a 22 year-old first year accountant with bachelor’s degree = $50 – $60K.
Salary for teacher with masters degree in SEVENTH year of teaching = $47K. And teachers have TREMENDOUS responsibility (e.g. our children, the future of our county, etc.)
Teacher salary in this country is a joke at best… but really it’s a national embarassment…
As for cops, most that I know have a degree in criminal justice or something similar. THey work riddiculous hours, weekends, etc. and put their LIVES on the line each day. And you think $38K is “not bad” for THAT? $38K SUCKS!
#5 I am a teacher. I do more than a YEARS worth of work in a 9 1/2 month period. I work about 50-60 hours a week. Most teachers work more than 40 hours a week.
My colleague with 10+ years worth of teaching in the system only makes a little more that 42,000 annually. Very sad but true……
Some teachers (myself included) have second jobs in order to make ends meet. I also have a spouse that helps with finances. We still need extra income to pay the bills. I don’t live lavishly. We are a VERY modest family.
My wife is a teacher, she works well over 50 hours a week. My wife has a masters degree and honestly it doesn’t make much of a difference, especially since she hasn’t gotten as raise in the past two years and her pay level has not increased, which means she isn’t compensated for her years of experience down the road. The city certainly finds ways to cut corners for teachers. Word to the wise, don’t have a baby during the school year. Your maternity leave will ultimately dock your pay the rest of the contracted year, which they don’t tell you. In our instance my wife makes $600 less each month. There goes the 529 plan we were hoping to pay into. Also with the school system switching healthcare providers in the middle of the year, any out of pocket expense you have paid through this year will be deleted with the new carrier. Sucks for my family but hey what else can we do. Not like we can find another job at this point.
We are able to buy a house in this neighborhood, thank God, but just barely. We love the neighborhood and we love the schools here. My wife has made many friends among her peers as well as the parents. Money doesn’t ensure a quality experience in the school system but it sure wouldn’t hurt if teachers didn’t have to worry about their bank accounts along with the learning experiences the kids get at school.
Teachers’ salaries are ludicrously low. My mother retired from Chesterfield County schools, she had a masters degree, and i made as much she did at retirement within about five years in the fire department (I’m on the list, btw).
A correction to crd’s comments about our retirement: we no longer have “completely paid” retirement. I currently have to contribute 1.5% of my salary back to the city for a 25-year retirement. If I’d chosen a 20-year plan, it would have been something like 6%.