Number of Prince William County employees earning $100,000-plus increases

DATABASE: View all the county employee salaries through a searchable database here.

Editor’s note: In connection with the News & Messenger's coverage of the fiscal and economic challenges faced by local governments and their taxpayers, this is one installment in an occasional series examining the salaries of public employees.

The before-after picture of a salary study in Prince William that was conducted over a year ago looks like this: Twenty-seven more government employees than in 2007 and 2008 now earn $100,000-plus annually.

The county, according to Freedom of Information Act salary records that were requested and received by the News & Messenger a couple of weeks ago, has 3,249 paid employees. Of those, 176 currently earn more than $100,000 annually.

That’s 27 more than in 2007 and 2008, when the number of $100,000-plus earners stood at 149, according to salary information for those years.

The pay jump is largely due to a classification study that analyzed certain executive positions for comparison with nearby jurisdictions.

“There was a salary adjustment for a handful of managers,” said Liz Bahrns, communications director for the county, adding that the pay classification study is conducted every year by category. “Sometimes they’ll look at all the [community services board] therapists, sometimes they’ll look at the public information officer specialists.”

Bahrns said previous cost-of-living and merit pay increases also played a role; for fiscal 2010, the Board of County Supervisors voted to forgo COLA adjustments for every employee.

“We’re satisfied they’re in the ballpark” of what other regions pay, said Chairman Corey Stewart, R-At large. “And the top officials’ salaries are very, very competitive with the rest of Virginia.”

Top 10 earners in the county have remained pretty consistent throughout the three years covered by the FOIA requests. Martin Briley, executive director for Economic Development, earned $255,356 in 2007, and in 2009, he still heads the top earner list with the same pay. Second in line for all three years was Craig Gerhart, county executive. But unlike Briley, his pay has risen from $210,000 in 2007 and 2008 to $220,000 in the current year.

Next highest paid county employees for all three years were, in order, Paul Ebert, commonwealth’s attorney, at $188,216 for 2009; Ross Horton, county attorney, at $181,000 for the current year; Michael Dixon, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, $171,089 for 2009; and James Willett, also an assistant commonwealth’s attorney, $168,692 in 2009.

The salaries listed for Horton, Dixon and Willett reflect their current pay, after each received adjustments in 2008 that resulted in raises between $1,695 and $8,500. Ebert did not see a salary hike in those years, according to the FOIA data.

The last four on the top 10 county earner list hail from community services, economic development, the office of the commonwealth’s attorney, and the police department.

Craig Krause, a psychiatrist and medical director for the Community Services Board, has been paid $162,527 a year for the entire three-year period. John Schofield retired from his position as head of marketing and research for the Economic Development Dept., according to a woman in that office. But in 2007 and 2008 he was the eighth highest paid county employee, with a salary of $156,507.

Richard Conway, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, now holds that number eight slot with a salary of $154,254, but that’s up from $152,726 for 2007 and 2008.

Last in 2007 and 2008 was Charlie Deane, chief of police, with a salary of $152,013. Though his pay hasn’t changed for 2009, he is now number nine of the list of top earners, due to Schofield’s retirement and the department’s failure to find a full-time replacement.

So number 10 on the list of top earners for 2009: Kevin McGee, fire and rescue chief, with a salary of $149,163. His salary for the two previous years was the same.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.