Spokane County workers’ salaries trail city of Spokane paychecks

Half the top 12 earners in Spokane County government last year were women, with Medical Examiner Sally Aiken taking in the largest base salary at more than $197,000.

While income inequality is still a problem for women in the county’s workforce, most public employees – regardless of gender – on the courthouse campus are making less than their counterparts across the river at Spokane City Hall, according to records provided to The Spokesman-Review. County workers in charge of roads, parks and planning, for example, are making much less than city workers in similar jobs, following a pattern seen in most communities nationwide.

Of the top 100 highest-paying county positions in 2014, 70 were held by men. Attorneys and judges make up the majority of the top earners at Spokane County, with 66 of the top 100 employed in the legal profession.

Of the top 12 earners, eight were district court judges whose salary is established by a statewide commission, not local officials. The county pays the entirety of a district court judge’s salary, while the state supplements the paychecks of superior court judges.

The Spokesman-Review filed a public records request for the base salary amounts of all county employees earlier this month with the human resources department. The records provided do not include overtime pay or other benefits.

The top criminal justice employee is Spokane County Undersheriff Jeff Tower, who earns a base salary of $125,224 – about $7,500 more than his boss, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. Knezovich, at $117,684, also earns less in base salary than Spokane County Jail Commander John McGrath, who was paid $118,401 in 2014.

McGrath reports to county commissioners, not Knezovich. The county took over jail operations from the Sheriff’s Office in 2013.

Knezovich’s salary is dictated by county law, which sets his pay as an average of the paychecks earned by the sheriffs of Pierce, Clark, Kitsap, Snohomish, Yakima and Benton counties. Tower and other Sheriff’s Office employees negotiate their salaries as members of a union.

Both Knezovich and Tower make less than their counterparts in the city of Spokane. Spokane police Chief Frank Straub earns an annual base salary of almost $176,000. Spokane police Assistant Chief Rick Dobrow earned a base salary of $145,116 in 2014, according to city records.

Spokane County Chief Executive Officer Marshall Farnell was given a raise in 2012 based on a study showing his compensation was well below that of other executives in the region. Farnell will retire this year, replaced mostly likely by either Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke or former city manager of West Jordan, Utah, Richard L. Davis. Farnell made $162,471 in 2014, the third-highest earner behind Aiken and John Howard, also of the medical examiner’s office.

Department heads at the county also make less than their counterparts at City Hall. The city’s Chief Financial Officer, Gavin Cooley, earned $143,091 in 2014. County CFO Bob Wrigley earned $113,488. The city’s top attorney, Nancy Isserlis, earned $150,629 last year. The county’s chief civil attorney, Jim Emacio, earned $132,122. Former City Planning Director Scott Chesney earned $119,600 last year. County Planning Director John Pederson made $113,018.

The county’s total payroll last year was about $120 million, roughly one-fourth of its entire budget.

County Human Resources Director Cathy Malzahn, who earns about $19,000 less than her counterpart at the city of Spokane, said the area is not unique in the pay distribution of public employees.

“This is not unusual,” she said. “If you compare a lot of salary data between cities and counties, I think you will see a trend: County employees are paid less than their (city) counterparts.”

Employees in the budget office earned the highest average salary, with its 10 employees earning roughly $85,000 in base pay. Of the pool of full-time employees receiving benefits, Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services employees earned the lowest average salary, with 31 workers taking in an average $32,357 in pay.

The county’s 133 patrol deputies earned a median salary of $70,658 last year, though those figures do not include overtime pay or medical benefits. The city of Spokane’s 172 police officers (including officers who had attained senior status) took in a median income of $78,927.

Detectives, sergeants, corporals and lieutenants in the Spokane Police Department all earned more than their counterparts in the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, according to records provided to The Spokesman-Review.

Ninety Spokane County employees made more than $100,000 in base pay last year. The median household income in Spokane County between 2009 and 2013 was $49,223, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to figures provided by the county, 59 percent of its roughly 1,900 employees earned more than that amount last year. In contrast, 83 percent of city employees earned base salaries above the median household income.