Comptroller Peter Franchot got called on the carpet by the Senate budget committee last week, with a focus on his three deputy comptrollers who each make $151,210. One of the positions is new, andonly one of the three directly supervises most of the 1,100 employees in the agency who collect $20 billion in taxes each year.
Lawmakers are none too happy with former Del. Franchot. He has heaped scorn on the tax hikes and slots legislation they passed in November, yet offered precious little in the way of revenue solutions to a structural deficit. But his deputies are likely to survive the scrutiny, partly because Franchot made such a pre-emptive fuss about the prospect of them being cut.
Budget analysts pointed out that the comptroller had more deputies making more money than at comparable agencies. But Franchot shot back that plenty of state employees made more than they did, and he?d be happy to supply a list.
The Examiner took him up on his offer, and perhaps foolishly asked for a list of everyone in state government making more than $100,000, figuring six figures is a pretty nice salary by most standards.
What we got back was 98 pages of computer printouts with 4,678 names on it ? more than 5 percent of all state employees.
Academic largesse
Almost three-quarters of these high-earners work for the university system as faculty and administrators. The salaries are most mind-blowing among the medical faculty and staff at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. There 1,200 make more than $100,000, 300 make more than $200,000 and more than a dozen of the medical specialists earn more than $500,000. Hopefully, most of these docs bring in more money than their salaries through fees and research grants.
At College Park, 1,270 faculty and staff make more $100,000, but a mere 121 make more than $200,000. Yet this last group takes home more than any of Gov. Martin O?Malley?s Cabinet secretaries ? and of course more than O?Malley?s own $150,000 salary ? but he gets a mansion with cooks and servants. Why should a dean of a small college such as journalism make $220,000 ? $57,000 more than the man who overseas the state prison system and its 25,000 inmates? Fund-raising prowess and market conditions among elite universities play a role.
Grad students unite
Life is indeed unfair, especially if you?re a graduate student. That?s why they were in a House committee last week asking for the right to unionize. Students testified that they make $14,000 to $18,000 for supposedly 20 hours of work a week. Many drop out before they get those Ph.D.s. If they?re lucky, work hard and have the right connections, these degrees would put them on their way to those tenured faculty and administrative positions that could earn them six figures. That?s the potential trade-off for years of indentured servitude.
College Park President Dan Mote (salary $431,900) was in the House of Delegates chamber last week for Terps day, touting U.Md.?s ranking as 37th in top universities in the world, a ranking boosted by the presence of highly paid research talent. (Next-highest-paid at U.Md. is basketball couch Gary Williams, $381,840, immediately followed by the athletic director. Glad they have their priorities straight.) U.Md.?s provost ($280,000), the chief academic officer, testified that a union would undermine the collaborative relationship between faculty and grad assistants. Not surprisingly, it is the universities who have two-thirds of the state?s 9,000 contract employees, who get no benefits.
By the way, Peter Franchot, whose signature is on every state payroll check, makes just $125,000.
