Columbus police represent all of top 100 highest earners among city employees in 2022

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and other top Columbus officials such as the city attorney, auditor, public safety director and health commissioner failed to make the list of highest-compensated city employees for 2022.

In fact, they didn't even come close — largely, but not entirely, due to a $20 million police retirement buyout that paid $200,000 each to 100 longtime police officers who agreed to leave their civil service jobs.

Including overtime, buyouts, other severance payments, court settlements, payouts of accumulated sick and vacation time upon termination and other forms of city financial compensation, Ginther's total pay of $205,463 put him 129th on the list of top paid city employees last year.

But even taking out the $200,000 one-time retirement bonuses to 100 police officers, Ginther still ranked only 30th among the total highest-paid city employees in 2022.

Ginther introduced the buyout in the wake of allegations of police brutality during social justice protests in Columbus following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd Jr. in Minneapolis and subsequent police shootings of Black residents in Columbus, including Ma'Khia Bryant and Andre Hill, who was unarmed. Ginther said at the time he introduced the buyout plan that some officers might be resistant to changes the city was making in response and that the buyout would help reform the Division of Police.

The top 100 on the list of Columbus' highest-compensated city employees were all sworn Division of Police personnel: 66 officers; 21 sergeants; nine lieutenants; and four captains. All but one of the top 100 took the buyout, and the lone employee who didn't was also a police officer.

The list does not include four deputy police chiefs whom the city agreed to pay $500,000 buyouts each as those payments didn't occur until after the close of the year.

All of the top 100 last year were paid more than $262,900, even though most apparently didn't work a full year. On average, the top 100 received: $37,767 in regular pay; $4,031 in overtime; and $264,958 in "other" compensation.

In fact, the city paid a total of $224.54 million in "other" compensation, about 42% of what it paid in salaries and almost four times what it paid in overtime. Almost nine out of 10 city employees received "other" pay, with the median employee taking home $15,578, The Dispatch review found.

On top of that, it paid out over $57 million in overtime pay, tacking on another 11% to the budget for regular salaries.

While the median regular salary for the city's roughly 11,000 total employees was $50,464, almost a third of them, or 3,441, had taxable income of almost double that, collecting $100,000 or more. The median city employee took home 32% more than their regular salary last year, and 921 employees at least doubled their regular pay, The Dispatch review found.

What does 'other' pay include?

The “other” pay column also can include "sick, personal and vacation leave" payments as well as "short-term disability pay, service credit payment (an annual longevity payment that is tiered based on years of service), car allowance, taxable tuition reimbursement ... safety forces residential incentive plan, sick leave reciprocity, sick pay at termination, vacation pay at termination, uniform allowance, hero pay, sick pay, annual holiday payout, plus any other earnings outside of regular worked hours and overtime," according to Amber Epling, a spokesperson for the City Auditor's Office.

"In a nutshell, 'other' earnings are those received outside of one’s regular pay" and overtime, Epling said in an email.

For example, Dr. Mysheika Roberts, the city health commissioner, received $65,465 in "other” pay on top of her $180,292 salary last year, which "includes all paid leave taken as time away from work, service credit payment, sick leave reciprocity, car allowance, and a lump sum payment due to a percentage pay increase," Epling said.

Including the buyouts, the top 10 highest-paid were police officers, sergeants, commanders and lieutenants who received hundreds of thousands of dollars each in "other" compensation besides regular and overtime pay, ending the year with each having received a total of more than $350,000.

That's more than double the about $160,000 a year what Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is paid.

The highest-compensated city employee in 2022 was Columbus police Lt. Jimmie D. Barnes, who was paid a total $411,514, including $319,582 in "other" compensation, which the City Auditor's Office says could include an early-retirement buyout, a lump-sum sick and vacation settlement or other compensation.

The bulk of that "other" pay, almost $95 million, went to employees in the Police Division. Over 3,300 out of almost 11,000 city employees received "other" compensation last year of $25,000 or greater, a Dispatch analysis of city payroll data shows. Of those, 1,690 worked for the Division of Police and another 1,168 for the Division of Fire, with the remaining 449 spread across 37 other departments.

Of all 128 city workers who made more than Ginther, 114 worked for the Division of Police and nine for the Division of Fire.

The five others are: a Development Department housing rehab technician who won an out-of-court settlement with the city concerning his termination (total pay: $251,475); city Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts (total pay: $245,757, including $65,465 in "other" compensation); former Public Safety Director Robert Clark ($240,092, all in regular salary); Ginther's chief of staff Ken Paul ($213,311, including $1,000 in "other" pay); and a Utilities Department wastewater plant supervisor (who netted $206,839, including $112,049 in overtime pay and $50,752 in "other" pay, while earning only $44,038 in regular pay).

City taxpayers paid for more than $57 million in overtime last year, spread across 5,657 city employees who collected an average of $5,189, The Dispatch found. Of them, 37% worked for the Division of Police, 26% for the Division of Fire, 5% for Public Utilities' Division of Sewage and Drainage and 4% for its Division of Water. The other 28% of employees were spread across 31 other departments.

Three police officers were the top three in overtime pay, each netting between $139,795 and $143,876 in OT in addition to their regular salaries and "other" compensation. All of them made $250,000 or more last year — about 14% more than the average family physician makes in Columbus, according to Salary.com.

Next, beyond those three among the top OT recipients, was a city 911 dispatcher, who collected $135,182 in OT, about 2 ½ times her $54,332 regular salary. She also netted another $15,074 in "other" pay.

In all, 746 city employees took home more than $25,000 in overtime. That's about 43% of the median household income for Columbus, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Is this an efficient use of tax dollars?

Ginther declined through a spokesperson to answer any questions directly for this story, including whether these compensation numbers show an efficient use of tax dollars to provide city services.

The following prepared statement was issued on Ginther's behalf:

“The city is committed to a living wage for every city employee. Every full-time employee makes at least $20/hour, which is well over the average income in Columbus. Even so, we are finding it difficult to recruit and retain employees in a highly competitive job market, as are other employers. The vast majority of our highest-income workers fall under Public Safety, and I would argue that the work they provide is vital.”

Ginther's opponent in the November election, Joe Motil, said the city would be better off if it hired more employees and stopped paying them large sums to quit.

"When does it end?" Motil said in an email. "And what did this buyout accomplish? I have yet to hear Ginther or any other public official explain this."

Motil wondered aloud if the city is going to repeat the expensive buyout again five years from now, when more city police officers reach retirement age.

"Mandatory overtime can result in fatigue and burnout, which can lead to a lapse in judgment for fire and police," Motil said. "Poor decisions due to burnout may cause unintended injuries to not only public safety employees, but citizens, too. In my opinion, both (police and fire) departments are understaffed, and overtime needs to be reduced."

Top 10 Columbus city employees in total 2022 compensation

Top 10 overtime recipients in 2022

Top 10 highest salary city employees in 2022

Highest regular salary

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mayor Andrew Ginther 129th among city's highest-paid employees in 2022