School district superintendents make the list. So do principals. But surprises on the local government top-earners list in the capital region came from police officers, firefighters, a borough manager and an athletic director. The first-ever snapshot of earnings paid out by 75 local government agencies in the Harrisburg area — county governments, townships, boroughs, cities and school districts — shows 139 officials can tout membership in the coveted $100,000 Club. Sixty-six others earning between $95,000 and $100,000 were close to knocking on that clubhouse door.
The data compiled by The Patriot-News through Right-to-Know requests is from the end of 2009. Many of the people on the list have since left their jobs.
But this survey shows the payroll for the 17 school districts, four county governments and 53 townships, boroughs or cities included in the survey totaled just over $755 million for nearly 23,000 full- and part-time employees.
Former Harrisburg School District Superintendent Gerald Kohn topped the list of salaries at $235,431. Following him was his former deputy superintendent Julie Botel, who made $204,790. They were the only ones to top the $200,000 mark.
A few, including former Harrisburg fire chiefs Donald Konkle and Daniel Soulier, made the list only because their earnings included the leave pay-outs they received when retiring that year, which they had accrued over decades of service. http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/10/139_central_pennsylvania_offic.html
For decades, I was told by friends who work in local government that they were entitled to higher job benefits than private sector workers because they received less in terms of salary.
Why is it I don't hear that anymore? It's because these days the numbers decisively show that most government workers earn more pay than their counterparts in private sector jobs, and earn far more in benefits, too. In fact, the benefits are four times greater for federal workers than private industry workers.