Rake in big salaries for You and Your Cronies. Take care of your donors. (Welcome to *public service.*)
The average income for households in North Carolina is $101,208. The median income for households in North Carolina is $72,388. The average individual salary for workers in North Carolina is $54, 840 per year.
Why do we cite all this? Well, it’s a lead-in to some reporting we found about some of the latest goings-on in Raleigh’s (alleged) *conservative revolution.* :
A doctor, an investment officer or a museum director. Who earns the most as a North Carolina state government employee?
If you didn’t guess the investment officer, you’re wrong.
Kevin SigRist, chief investment officer for the North Carolina Investment Authority,is paid an annual salary of $772,500 to provide expertise for state government investing, making him the highest paid state employee as of Aug. 3, according to salary data provided by the Office of State Controller.
The Investment Authority — responsible for managing assets belonging to the various pension funds administered by the state treasurer — employs 41 other workers. Nine of those employees round out the top 10 highest-paid employees in state government, ranging from $381,553 to $492,340. The median salary in the agency is $260,590.
All 10 previously worked in the State Treasurer’s Office before their positions were transferred to the Investment Authority on June 30. The bill establishing the authority was signed into law last year by Gov. Josh Stein. […]
(As a point of reference, Governor Josh Stein is pulling down $203,073 per year. )
This investment authority was created as a swipe at former state treasurer Dale Folwell, who – during his tenure – dramatically reduced the influence of the Wall Street weasels in the treasurer’s office. His replacement, Bradford Paisley Briner XII – a Jim Blaine Republican™ and Wall Street weasel himself – welcomed all of those folks back in the door.
SigRist and the rest were brought into this role by Briner in a move that was blessed by the godfathers of our alleged conservative revolution.
I know you have to pay talent. But paying a state employee 15 times the state’s average salary ???
Hold on. It gets worse:
[…]The next 10 highest paid state government employees begin with the director of the N.C. Museum of Art, Valerie Hillings, who earned an annual salary of $371,024 until the recent announcement of her departure. […]
Okay it’s bad enough that we – in an economy racked by inflation and an ever-growing cost-of-living – have a state art museum. But we have a director of said museum pulling down SIX TIMES the state’s average salary.
And there’s MORE:
[…] Rounding out the rest of the top 20 earners are mostly doctors who work for the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Adult Correction.
The top-paid doctor is Carrie Brown, medical director for DHHS, who earns $365,650.
As of Aug. 1, about 81,000 active full-time and part-time employees worked for state government agencies, excluding teachers, other school personnel, university and community college employees and UNC Health employees. The median salary for the almost 56,000 full-time permanent employees is $62,315.
From probation officers to nurses to program analysts, the Department of Adult Correction employs the most workers with slightly more than 14,000. DHHS employs about 13,600, and the Department of Public Safety, which includes the National Guard, is third with almost 12,300 employees.[….]
Here’s the full Top 20 of the highest-paid state employees:
You can click here to view a comprehensive database of all state-government salaries.
Before you go, here’s one more table showing the top-employing state agencies and their median salaries:
