Montgomery County’s 26 department directors brought home between $139,000 and $245,000 last year, ruffling the feathers of labor leaders fighting to preserve union members’ raises as lawmakers look for savings.
Last week, Council President Mike Knapp, who also serves as head of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, said officials from other jurisdictions have accused Montgomery County of raising the bar for senior management salaries when County Executive Ike Leggett took office.
Information obtained by The Examiner shows top Montgomery County directors were often earning $40,000 to $50,000 a year more than their counterparts in Fairfax County, the demographic twin of Montgomery, before Leggett was even elected.
In 2006, the last year for which complete salary lists were available, Montgomery’s director of management and budget made $187,586 a year, while Fairfax paid its director $141,467. Montgomery paid its human resources director $179,652 a year, while Fairfax paid $141,530. Montgomery’s fire chief earned $194,916, while Fairfax’s received $148,512. Montgomery’s chief of police, who was recruited from Fairfax County, earned $199,303 a year, while Fairfax paid $147,699.
Leggett’s spokesman, Patrick Lacefield, whose own salary was reported at $145,000 for last year, provided The Examiner with information that shows consistent salary levels.
“If Montgomery comes in higher than other places, it has been a historic trend,” Lacefield said. “When the county executive came in, he wanted to be sure to hire people as close as possible to the salaries they made before.”
Nonetheless, Gino Renne, head of Montgomery’s 8,000-member Municipal and County Government Employee Organization, said salaries for top management positions are out of line with regional counterparts.
“Senior management’s not part of any union,” Renne said. “But their huge salaries are typically given the same annual cost-of-living bumps that our member’s contracts receive.”
Council members wrestling with a $297 million budget gap are reviewing union contracts that call for 8 percent annual raises this year.
Knapp said he wants to review management salaries as well as regular employee contracts.
“You can’t say to rank and file that your salaries and cost-of-living adjustments are on the table for discussion, if you’re not going to say the same for management,” Knapp said.
