Des Moines Register
11-11-07
Coaches, professors top state's payroll
The U of I's Kirk Ferentz was the highest-paid state worker in fiscal 2007, earning about $2.8 million.
By JONATHAN ROOS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
More than 2,700 state government workers received six-digit salaries last budget year, but the vast majority of state employees still made less than $100,000.
About 67,700 people were listed on the $2.65 billion state payroll, according to a
Des Moines Sunday Register analysis of the new State Salary Book of Iowa.
The highest-paid among them was University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, who received about $2.8 million in total compensation in fiscal 2007 - a 12-month period that ended June 30.
Football and basketball coaches at the U of I and Iowa State University accounted for six of the 10 highest state salaries.
The other four top salary slots were filled by professors who hold leading positions at University of Iowa Hospitals.
The 2,726 employees with six-digit salaries - many of them professors at the three state universities or administrators of state agencies - represented just 4 percent of the state work force last year. Their salaries accounted for 16 percent of the total payroll.
Roughly one-fourth of the workers with salaries topping $100,000 were women.
At the low end of the salary list are the 15,911 part-time or temporary job holders, including students employed at the three state universities, with paychecks that totaled less than $10,000.
The fiscal 2007 salary list is shorter than the 2006 list by about 8,500 names.
That appears to be due primarily to the U of I withholding the names of student employees because of federal privacy laws, according to a spokeswoman for the
Iowa Department of Administrative Services, which is required by state law to compile the salary information for all state agencies. The U of I students omitted from the salary book would have been among those making the lowest wages in state government.

On paper, it looked like Gov. Chet Culver was paid the not-so-princely sum of
$58,970. But that was only a partial-year salary for Culver, a Democrat who took office in January. The former Iowa secretary of state had a partial-year salary of
$55,576 for that position.
The governor's current annual salary is $130,000, which was exceeded by nearly
1,300 state employees during the last budget year.
State government is Iowa's largest employer. Taxpayers pick up much of the cost of state employees' salaries, but health care fees and research grants cover most of the salary cost at University Hospitals in Iowa City. Student fees and ticket revenue help support athletic programs.
Five coaches in addition to Ferentz made the top 10 list of state salaries: Iowa
State University men's basketball coach Greg McDermott, $675,126; Hawkeye basketball coach Steve Alford, who was replaced last spring by Todd Lickliter,
$595,654; Cyclones football coach Gene Chizik, $586,364 , and his predecessor, Dan McCarney, $550,000 (reflecting partial-year compensation for both); and Hawkeye women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder, $473,908.
The highest-paid professor, at $695,743 last fiscal year, was the U of I's Mark
Iannettoni, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and head of that medical department.
While university professors command some of the best salaries in state government, officials say paying those salaries is a good investment.
They argue that medical professors and other faculty members with six-figure salaries earn a premium because of their skills and experience.
In return, their research often brings in money from the federal government and other sources.
The highest-paid administrator in state government last fiscal year was Donna
Katen-Bahensky, director of University Hospitals. Her salary of $465,337 ranked
11th overall.
ISU President Gregory Geoffroy received $323,316.
University of Northern
Iowa's president, Ben Allen, was paid $275,000. Sally Mason, the new president at the U of I, was hired earlier this year at a salary of $450,000.
Outside the universities, State Medical Examiner Julia Goodin was paid
$239,581 in the last budget year. Close behind at $236,676 was Edward Stanek
II, chief executive officer of the Iowa Lottery, who retired Oct. 31. Stanek's salary was paid from lottery revenue.

One of the highest-paid department directors was Mollie Anderson, who received
$140,694 for leading the Department of Administrative Services.
The last budget year was a transition period, with the new governor making several changes in the leadership of state agencies.
In addition to their salaries, state workers logged $49 million in food, lodging and transportation expenses while traveling on government business during the last budget year. That is an increase of about $700,000 from fiscal 2006.
Reporter Jonathan Roos can be reached at (515) 284-8443 or jroos@dmreg.com