Olathe paid its public employees nearly $60 million in 2019. Here’s who made the most
The city of Olathe paid its public employees nearly $59.9 million in 2019, according to the city’s salary database.
Payrolls for the fire, police and public works departments, which make up just over 77 percent of the city’s employees, accounted for just over 78 percent of that, with a combined payroll of nearly $47 million.
The two top earners, however, come from the city’s administration. The city’s highest paid public employee was City Manager J. Michael Wilkes, who has served as in that position since January 1999. His gross pay was $276,699 in 2019, according to the data provided by the city.
Assistant City Manager Susan Sherman, with a gross pay of $213,797, was the city’s second highest paid public employee. Sherman started working for Olathe in May 1989 and was promoted to assistant city manager in 1994.
Joseph M. Sirna, the city’s chief information officer, was the third highest paid with a gross salary of $203,546.
Olathe Public Works Director Mary K. Jaeger was the forth highest paid with a gross salary of $190,219. Fire Chief Jeff DeGraffenreid rounded out the city’s Top 5 highest paid with a gross salary of $182,282 in 2019.
Want to know what other city employees made? Search the database by typing in the person’s last name or full name.
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BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy publish people's pay?
Employee salaries often make up the single largest item in governments’ budgets, just like in a private company. Making the information available can provide insights into how fairly governments compensate public workers, how the pay compares with salaries in the private sector and how pay varies by position.
Publishing people’s income is personal, which is why there should be compelling reasons for doing it, as noted above. In addition, as public records, the information should be readily available o the public. The databases do not include personal information such as addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and social security numbers.
In addition to being published by governments, public employees’ salaries already are published in some other forums. For example, they are frequently noted in news stories about new hires, annual pay raises, budget discussion, negotiations with employee groups and more.
In the private sector, most companies release employees’ pay only for top-level executives, as part of disclosure requirements of publicly held companies.
