City posts salaries on Web

In response to growing demands for information about public spending during this recession, the city of Charleston has posted the salaries of full-time employees on its Web site.

"The mayor just felt it was time to do it," said city Chief Financial Officer Steve Bedard. "We have nothing to hide."

The salary list, with employees' names and positions, went online shortly after 4 p.m. Friday. The list is the latest online report on city spending, joining the city budget, financial report and detailed monthly expense reports.

The salary list can be viewed at www.charlestoncity.info/shared/docs/0/Salaries.pdf

Bedard said the decision to post salaries was made after The Post and Courier reported that Charleston County had decided to post a limited amount of information about county employee salaries.

The county has not yet posted the information that County Council voted to put on the Web, which would cover about a quarter of the county's employees, but The Post and Courier on March 13 posted a more extensive list of county salaries covering nearly 1,400 county workers. Such information is a matter of public record in South Carolina, under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We decided to put (online) what anyone could get with a FOIA," Bedard said.

The city's Web posting shows that Charleston, with a $146.6 million budget and 1,577 full-time employees, has eight employees who earn $100,000 or more, including the mayor, and 32 who earn between $75,000 and $100,000.

Charleston County, with an annual budget of $165.5 million, has 27 employees earning six-figure salaries and 88 earning between $75,000 and $100,000.

Both governments have been cutting spending during the past two years as revenues declined, and the city's salaries reflect mandatory unpaid days off this year. The highest-paid city employees will take the most days off without pay, with the mayor taking nine, while most employees will lose five days' pay.

The pay cuts clearly have raised some questions among employees, as several City Council members this month questioned why Charleston's municipal judges recently saw their pay increase. The answer from the administration was that the four part-time judges are working more hours now to make up for the retirement of a fifth judge, and that arrangement is less expensive for the city than hiring another judge.

Councilman William Dudley Gregorie had requested a report on the pay of all city employees, along with employees' gender and race, position and division.

He said that posting city salaries online is a good move.

"It's a part of being transparent," he said. "I think the public will be interested because they are paying the bills."

Bedard said the city's online list shows current compensation for all full-time employees, with pay reductions because of furloughs included.

The list does not include the compensation of Mayor Joe Riley and the 12 City Council members, which is set by ordinance at public meetings, or the pay of the city's corporation counsel, Charlton deSaussure, a contract employee whose pay is based on hourly billings reflected in published monthly expense reports.

Riley's pay will be $147,962 this year after taking into account nine days of voluntary furloughs and his decision to decline raises he was to receive in 2009 and 2010. Bedard said that because the mayor's pay is set by ordinance and could not be reduced during his term, the mayor writes checks to the city each quarter to account for the roughly $10,000 in pay he's giving back this year.

City Council members are paid $15,000. They are the only people on the city's payroll whose pay has not been reduced by furloughs this year.

Reach David Slade at dslade@postandcourier.com or 937-5552.