By Anand Desai
Bristow
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Prince William County government reported paying its 100 highest-paid employees a total of $18.3 million in 2020: that’s 5.4% more than 2019’s figure for that year’s top 100, on top of another 5.4% over 2018’s. (The previous two years’ raises were 1% and 3.8%.)
The increases were even bigger at the top. And these figures don’t include the School Board’s, whose earlier FOIA response showed a similar set of high-end salaries and a few teachers receiving up to $133,000.
Compare that to senior federal employee salaries generally maxing out a little under the $174,000 for members of Congress, and local teachers’ starting pay about $50,000.
While the coronavirus pandemic has forced an “austerity budget” on many Prince William County taxpayers facing a 7% higher property-tax bill – whether directly or eventually through rents – and the School Board continues to foist austere trailers on many students, folks with secure desk jobs, avoiding long commutes.
Overbroad percentage raises can soak up the most tax dollars for those who need them least, do little to attract or assist struggling newer employees, and distort public-interest incentives for professionals where there is a risk of insiders’ favor, rather than free-market alternatives, driving negotiations and advancement.
Even if our county needs a budget increase exceeding inflation, population growth, and coronavirus-specific projects (which seems far from certain, given hundreds of millions of federal dollars at its March 9 “COVID-19 Operational Update” suggests may be forthcoming), I urge our supervisors and School Board to limit management pay and direct our hard-earned dollars to specific, pressing needs.
Here are some of the highest-paid government positions in Prince William County for 2020:
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
$373,873.16
ATTORNEY
$311,815.30
MEDICAL DIRECTOR
$311,635.49
POLICE CHIEF
$272,101.37
PSYCHIATRIST
$266,045.23
PSYCHIATRIST
$253,261.76
PSYCHIATRIST
$238,307.08
COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY
$225,160.10
DFR CHIEF
$224,011.44
DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOP
$214,249.32
FIRE DEPT DEPUTY CHIEF
$213,344.01
FIRE DEPARTMENT LIEUTENANT
$210,917.42
POLICE CAPTAIN
$210,486.05
FIRE DEPT CAPTAIN
$210,075.00
DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
$208,811.25
DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE $206,220.42
BOARD MEMBER – PR. WM. /MANASSAS REGIONAL JAIL BOARD
$204,708.96
JAIL SUPERINTENDENT
$201,429.15
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE/CFO
$200,718.00
CHIEF DEPUTY ATTORNEY
$199,147.69
DFR CAPTAIN
$198,536.35
DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
$195,366.14
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