Top state worker pay last year: $530,595

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What do investment fund managers and psychiatrists have in common?

No, it's not a joke about the state of the stock market today. But it is a comment on Texas state government's most highly paid employees.

Of the 30 most highly paid state workers in calendar year 2007, 19 of them were psychiatrists for the Department of State Health Services, according to a Texas Watchdog review of state pay records. And seven others were officials with the state workers' and state teachers' retirement systems.

In all, 1,761 state workers pulled down six figures in compensation in 2007, the analysis showed, out of some 172,000-plus state workers. (The analysis included the employees' salaries, bonuses, longevity pay, overtime and other payouts. It did not include employees of the state's higher education systems, whose records are somewhat separate from the rest of the state's.)

Want to skip the story? Click here to see and search our interactive database of Texas state workers' pay records.

And if you assume that Gov. Rick Perry is up near the top of the list, think again. He's not even close. The gov may be the state's chief executive, but with his pay of $124,008.72, he ranked as the 999th most well paid state worker, Texas Watchdog found, just below Shannon Porterfield, an official with the state attorney general's office, and one step above Robert M. Brown, an official with the state Department of Transportation.

(We were curious as to what Perry thought about being No. 999 on the list. Spokeswoman Allison Castle sent us this by e-mail: "In 2007 the legislature raised the governor’s salary from 115K to 150K but they subtract his salary every day he is out of the state. He donates the difference between the old salary and the new salary to charity.")

Landing a thousand spots down on the list might sound bad, but keep in mind that a Gallup poll from a few years ago showed that the American public's definition of the word "rich" was about $120,000. (You just barely made the cut, Governor.)

Meanwhile, Texans' median household income was $46,248, according to the Census Bureau's latest numbers (from 2005-07). And 17 percent of Texans live in poverty.

PUTTING IN THE LONG HOURS

The data shows that five state workers made it into the six-figure club by racking up big overtime checks.

A network specialist with the state Department of Information Resources made $48,133.25 in overtime in 2007, nearly doubling his non-overtime pay for the year of $54,383.78. A systems analyst with the state teachers' retirement system made a bit more than $40,000 in OT, bringing his total pay to $111,076.32.

And three Department of Public Safety officers -- Lt. Warren W. Wallace and Sgts. Oscar Javier Guzman and Robert D. Byrd -- all made more than $30,000 in overtime in 2007.

An inquiry we e-mailed Monday to the Department of Public Safety's public information office about those officers yielded only a "we'll get back to you on this"-type response by the time we published Tuesday. However, a copy of DPS' monthly employee newsletter from earlier this year -- archived on the Internet -- reported that Sgt. Oscar Javier Guzman, whom it identified as being assigned to the governor's security detail, had recently retired after 26 years, five months and 20 days of service. (UPDATE, 3:17 p.m. Dec. 17: DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block has answered our questions -- Guzman and Wallace are on the governor's protective detail, and Byrd spent six months as a counselor at the DPS Training Academy. To read more about them, and DPS' response, see our separate blog post on it.)

ENOUGH TO RETIRE ON?

Thirty grand may be a lot of overtime, but that's still a long way off from the man who brings in the biggest paycheck on the list, Britt Harris, the chief investment officer for the state teachers' retirement system.

Harris made a total of $530,595.24 in 2007, state data shows. That's more than $175,000 more than the next person down on the list. And it's more than 11 times the median household average income for the state.

Harris' pay package has been controversial in the past, with some retired teachers' eyebrows raising up when they learned that Harris could have been eligible for a yearly paycheck of more than $900,000, if he'd earned all his possible bonuses.

Six state Teachers Retirement System workers landed in the top 30 of our list -- Harris, Executive Director Ronnie Jung and four investment directors. We added up all their 2007 pay and got $1,725,994.22.

Given that the stock market has gone in the toilet this year -- and the value of the teachers' retirement investments lost $25 billion this year, The Chronicle reported a few weeks ago -- we asked the agency how much Harris and his fellow TRS executives would be eligible to earn for 2008. The response from an agency spokeswoman was to blow off all our questions and tell us we'd have to file a Public Information Act request to find that out. (So much for government transparency.)

DOCTORS RANK HIGH

So, if Harris is No. 1 on the list, then who is No. 2? That would be Gail I. Johnson, a psychiatrist with the Department of State Health Services. She made $354,901.12, state records show.

The state Medical Board's online doctor-licensure database found just one Gail I. Johnson practicing in Texas, a psychiatrist with an address that is the same as North Texas State Hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas' largest state-run mental hospital.

The state workers at No. 3 and No. 4 on the list are also state psychiatrists. At No. 3 is Dr. Steven Cathey, whose address corresponds with that of San Antonio State Hospital, who reported to the state that he is board certified and speaks Spanish. He made $296,888.20. And at No. 3 was Dr. Patrick Clapper of Austin State Hospital, who made $288,782.53.

NAMES YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE

So, if the governor is at No. 999, and a bunch of doctors and investment guys are at the top, you might be wondering, how many people's names on this list would I recognize, anyhow?

Probably not many.

State Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins III is No. 28. John Keel, the state auditor, is No. 39, but State Comptroller Susan Combs, from whose office we procured this data (under the state Public Information Act), is at No. 454. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson is No. 142, making slightly less than the presiding judge of the state Court of Criminal Appeals, Sharon Keller.

ABOUT THE DATA

The statewide media has reported several times that Harris is the state's most highly paid employee. But the identities of the other state workers listed by Texas Watchdog may not be as widely known to Texans.

The state comptroller's "Window on State Government" public Web site has a section listing the state's expenditures, but it doesn't include employee pay.

But that doesn't mean that the data isn't public -- it is public under the Texas Public Information Act. We sought, and received, from the state comptroller's office a database of state employees' pay information for 2007.

The database Texas Watchdog is publishing today, of 1,700-plus workers who earned total pay of $100,000 or more, is only about one percent of the 172,000 or so workers in the state's files.

(State employees might be relieved to know: No, Texas Watchdog does not have your home address, your home phone number, or your Social Security number.)

State workers' pay data is online now in 19 states, according to the WikiFOIA Web site and Texas Watchdog research. Most federal workers' pay data is also online in a database posted by the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press. And Houston-area city and county workers' pay information is also online via The Houston Chronicle's Web site.

Click here to search the database and see the list in spreadsheet form.

Timecard punching machine photograph by flickr user mbtrama, used via the Creative Commons license. 

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	J Tsouris Monday, 12/29/2008 - 16:57 Is Texaswatchdog planning to ever provide access to the entire database of state of tx employees salaries besides just the top 1700+?
	Jennifer Peebles Tuesday, 12/30/2008 - 14:00 J Tsouris, Thanks for reading us and for taking time to write in. Yes, we are working on a project to allow the public to access the entire database, but we're trying to so in a way that doesn't seem overly invasive to all 172,000 state workers. Take care, Jennifer Peebles Texas Watchdog jennifer@texaswatchdog.org
	Jaycee Wednesday, 12/31/2008 - 11:25 So, what does the data actually mean? Are these people worthy of the pay they receive? Are we getting our money\'s worth? It seems a bit salicious to publish the names and the salaries, but not investigate the academic/professional backgrounds of these people along with a side by side comparison of what the private sector pays for the same job. For example, what does Britt Harris do? How does it compare to his private sector counterparts? Britt lost money, but what has been his record over his tenure? How does his performance compare with other people both public and private that do what he does? As a public employee myself, there needs to be value in publishing people\'s names and salaries and I haven\'t seen one as yet. The Chronicle published their article, for example, but they never got into the analysis of why people make what they make and whether its comparable across industries. If you don\'t do the work and explain to taxpayers whether the wages are fair, then what value are you providing by posting a bunch of names and numbers? Its great for water cooler conversation, but what is the so what?
	Juanita Friday, 01/02/2009 - 09:22 This is a shame! No one, I repeat NO ONE deserves $500,000 a year working for State Government. Psychiatrists? What are they doing to be deserving of this salary? Please do publish their names and while you're at it how about an investigation of all the State Contracts and their total dollar amount. Then look at who in the legislature has family members in those companies, and/or stock, board positions, total donations to the members campaigns etc.
	Jennifer Peebles Monday, 01/05/2009 - 16:55 Jaycee, We appreciate you reading us and taking time to write in, and we value your perspective as a public employee. Are these people worth of the pay they receive? That's a good question -- and posting lists like these are a first step toward trying to answer that question. I don't know what Britt Harris does, exactly -- the teacher's retirement system responded to my questions by saying I could file a public information act request if I wanted to know more. I don't mind filing PIA letters, but that's not exactly a great way to have a robust dialogue. I'm curious to know what he does, too and if he's worth that amount of money. Your questions about him and his record are all valid, and while I don't know the answer, it's a good idea for a potential followup story. -- Jennifer Peebles Deputy Editor Texas Watchdog jennifer@texaswatchdog.org
	Jennifer Peebles Thursday, 01/08/2009 - 15:41 Juanita, Hi. We appreciate you reading us and taking time to write to us. We're very interested in knowing more about state contractors and any ties those firms might have to people in political office. If you (or anyone else) of any specifics, please send 'em on. I'm jennifer@texaswatchdog.org. -- Jennifer Peebles Deputy Editor Texas Watchdog
	Gritsforbreakfast Thursday, 01/15/2009 - 08:48 I don't think this posting is particularly probative because, as mentioned, it begs the question of whether the employees are worth the cost to the taxpayers. To Juanita: The state MUST hire psychiatrists and salaries must compete with the private sector. News flash: Doctors make a lot more money than median income voters. So what? Somebody making $45K per year doesn't have med school loans to pay for. Similarly, compare the investment manager salary you listed with the Wall Street investment managers, and it's really quite low. Are you gonna hire somebody to manage your multi-billion dollar investments who only wants $45K per year? Could YOU do it? There's nothing wrong with extra compensation for specialized skills. With respect, this story needs a lot more context to be useful. The idea about analyzing state contractors would be a much more informative approach.
	Jennifer Peebles Thursday, 01/15/2009 - 11:44 Gritsforbreakfast, Thanks for reading us and for the constructive criticism. Yes, the question on state contractors sounds like a much more interesting story than this one, and one that we want to work on. (And if you or anyone else has any specific tips in that area, please pass 'em on!). I enjoy reading the Grits for Breakfast blog, and I have your RSS in my Google News. Glad to know you are reading us, and we hope you will keep reading! -- Jennifer Peebles Deputy Editor Texas Watchdog jennifer@texaswatchdog Follow us on twitter at texaswatchdog