Gettin’ $$$ PAID $$$ (workin’ for the state)
Every time I hear stories like this, my level of sympathy for “the poor, poor state employees” drops another three notches.
(*It’s been FIVE MINUTES since they got a bonus or a salary increase!*):
North Carolina has billions of dollars invested in stocks, bonds and more – but it needs someone to decide what to do with all that money.
The state’s $94 billion pension plan is responsible for making sure retired teachers, cops and other government workers are taken care of. It has been without a permanent leader since July, when the chief investment officer at the state treasurer’s office unexpectedly quit.
But now, State Treasurer Dale Folwell plans to hire a new chief investment officer. The job has been open for the last six months, and Folwell didn’t announce if he has a deadline to fill it. But whenever a new person is hired, he or she will likely be one of the highest-paid employees in all of state government.
Kevin SigRist was making a $387,081 annual salary at the time he quit, making him the highest-paid person in state government – that is, the highest paid outside the UNC System and all of its highly paid football and basketball coaches.[…]
[…] SigRist’s departure meant that for a while, the title of highest-paid state government worker went to Larry Wheeler, the longtime director of the NC Museum of Art who made just shy of $300,000 a year. But Wheeler announced in late 2017 that he plans to retire in November 2018, after nearly 45 years working for the state. […]
[…] At the treasurer’s office, decisions about the pension plan have been handled in the last six months by a duo of investment managers, Jeff Smith and Christopher Morris. While neither have had their pay elevated quite to the level of what SigRist had been making, they’re among the 10 treasurer’s office employees who make more than $200,000 a year. About 50 other people in the office make between $100,000 and $200,000 a year.[…]
Yes, the numbers are very very high for a government employee. But, you do not want an analyst managing a fund at $89k. Unfortunately the fund managers at banks probably do make these inflated salaries, and in order to get someone with experience managing a fund it may be they have to pay those big bucks, plus it is likely better to have that fixed salary rather than paying a management firm some exorbitant fees to do the same thing. Remember Cowell used to do that with her Wall St. buddies and they raked in the cash while getting sub-par returns.
Bingo.
This problem is easily solved. Simply go to a non defined pension plan. I realize several years will be required to make this work. However, we can make the option available for employees to transfer their equity in the present plan to their non defined plan.
The big problem in this is to get the legislature off their keister to make this happen.
Disheartening to know that this kind of money is being spent on salaries when there is so many workers for the State that are getting the bare minimum. Some of these jobs put workers life’s in harms way everyday (DPS for example) for which I worked for 10 years (Corrections) and only earn $221 a month in retirement This is also true for our teachers which are leaving schools to get a better paying job in the private sector. I know this is true also because I have a grand-daughter that teaches high school, leads several after school activities and I was shocked at what she said she made a month. She is working an additional job to make end meet. Will our State Government ever get it !…..