More Than 1,000 State Workers Took Home $100,000+ in Pay in 2010

[Madison, Wisc…] A search of the MacIver Institute’s new transparency website reveals that 844 state employees made over $100,000 a year in salary alone in 2010.

That number jumps to 1,031 when you include overtime payments.

“As the public engages in a debate over government employee compensation, we believe it is important that it be an informed debate,” said MacIver President Brett Healy. “We are committed to keeping WIOpenGov.org Wisconsin’s premier web portal for searchable payroll and benefit data for government employees.”

The  searchable 2010 State payroll data covers employees of all state agencies, totaling 37,100 employees. Not included are University of Wisconsin personnel, and employees of the legislature, judicial branch and Governor’s offices. The MacIver Institute is in the process of obtaining that data and will post on WIOpenGov.org in the coming months.

MacIver Institute staff does not augment or manipulate the data it receives from the state and local governments. Healy says the site currently includes payroll information for all state employees, payroll and benefit information for every K-12 school employee in Wisconsin and information from several large municipalities. Launched last month, all of the data available on www.WIOpenGov.org is public, in accordance to state law. However, different government entities have varying commitments to just how accessible the information was to the general public. After announcing that the 2010 State of Wisconsin payroll data was live on Monday, the site experienced its highest number of unique visitors and highest volume of searches to date.

The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a two-year old think tank located on the Capitol Square in Madison, is the Free Market Voice for Wisconsin. In addition to WIOpenGov.org, MacIver publishes research and analysis on education, tax and health care issues and operates the MacIver News Service—a copyright free open source news-reporting agency which focuses on free market issues in the public arena.