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Annapolis fire and police pay comprises more than half of city's 2021 salary totals, analysis shows
By Brooks DuBose
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Annapolis police and fire departments employees made up more than half the $42.5 million paid to salaried employees in fiscal 2021, an analysis of city salary data shows.
Fire salaries totaled $11.7 million and police salaries totaled $10.8 million, making up 53% of the city's salaried payroll, according to the data obtained by The Capital through a Maryland public information request. The data does not include the cost of employee benefits.
Police and fire employed 132 and 135 salaried workers, respectively, data shows. Police employed another 22 contractual or hourly workers.
The two highest-paid employees of those departments are the chiefs. Fire Chief Doug Remaley earned $176,890, the second-highest salary in the city behind City Manager David Jarrell. Police Chief Ed Jackson is close behind, earning $175,933, the fourth-highest salary in the city.
On average, salaried fire department employees earn about $86,400 annually; salaried police workers average about $82,000 a year.
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The public safety departments also have the two largest operating budgets of around $22 million each, the vast majority of which goes to paying employees' salaries and benefits. Costs related to paying police and fire employees — as well as other union employees — have increased over the past three years in part because of pay increases that were part of a four-year contract negotiated in 2018 with the four bargaining units that represent most city employees. Fiscal 2022, which spans from July 1 to June 30, 2022, is the last year of the deal.
Nearly all city employees' salaries are determined by a pay scale approved by the City Council each year during the budget process. Employees' salaries increase on average between 2.5% and 3% because of annual step increases and cost of living adjustments. Salaries for other positions such as mayor and the eight City Council members are codified in city law.
City officials and union representatives will begin negotiating a new labor contract later this year or early next year with an expected completion date of spring 2022, Jarrell said.
Jarrell is the city's top earner at $180,000.
In total, the city paid 519 people a salary in 2021, the data shows. Another 246 were listed as hourly or contractual workers, some of whose compensations were paid by grants. Two years ago, the city listed about 550 salaried employees and 200 hourly workers. Overall, the city has added about 15 total employees since 2019.
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The portion of the city's annual budget that goes to salaries has increased gradually over the years. The city spent $36.6 million on pay in 2015, $38.6 million in 2017 and $41.4 million in 2019.
In 2021, salaried employees earned an average of $81,900, an 8.5% increase from 2019 when the average salary was around $75,400. By comparison, the cost of goods nationally has increased by about 6.7% since 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
City workers are earning about 13% more than the final year of Mayor Mike Pantelides' administration in 2017, when the city employed 535 salaried workers and paid them an average of $72,200 a year.
The number of city employees who earned more than $100,000 reached 121 in 2021, up from 83 in 2019 and 74 in 2017.
Forty-four employees who earn six figures work in the fire department. Another 23 workers are employed by police.
Another 55 employees earn between $90,000 and $99,500, including Mayor Gavin Buckley who makes a City Code-mandated $98,000. Buckley is the 59th-highest-paid person in the city government.
In Buckley's office, which includes community engagement, communications, public information and constituent services employees, the average pay is about $86,000. Seven employees plus Buckley are salaried while another 14 staffers are paid contractually and earn between $14 and $31 an hour. Some of those employees are paid with grant funding.
Buckley's colleagues on the City Council earn $15,000 annually as mandated by City Code.
In May, the council approved a pay increase for future members that will see salaries rise to $19,653 by the end of the next term in 2025. Seven of eight council members are seeking another term in the city elections this fall. Buckley is also seeking a second term.
The third-largest city department is public works with 95 workers earning an average of $74,800, the second-lowest among all departments, data shows.
The department's highest-paid employee is Director Michael Johnson, who earns $176,028.
Johnson is among six other department heads who make the third-highest salary in the city, including City Attorney Mike Lyles, Kevin Simmons in emergency management, Jodee Dickinson in finance, Sally Nash in planning and zoning, and Rick Gordon in transportation, who retired this spring.
The five departments with the highest average salary are city manager, $118,700; law, $112,250; human resources, $100,100; planning and zoning, $96,900; and emergency management, $94,700.
The department with the lowest average salary is transportation at $64,600, across about 33 employees. Acting Transportation Director Kwaku Agyemang-Duah, who took over for Gordon, earns $152,322, which is on par with several other assistant directors in other departments.
Recreation and Parks Director Archie Trader earns $167,070, the city's fifth-highest salary.
In addition to paying its 23 or so salaried employees an average of $77,800 a year, recreation and parks employs nearly 75% of the city's 246 hourly workers. Nearly all of them are temporary employees. These workers average about $17 an hour as lifeguards, dock assistants and other seasonal jobs.
Top earning city employees
1. David Jarrell, city manager, $180,000
2. Douglas Remaley, fire chief, $176,890
Tie-3. Jodee Dickinson, finance director, $176,028
Tie-3. James Gordon, transportation director, $176,028
Tie-3. Michael Johnson, public works director, $176,028
Tie-3. Mike Lyles, city attorney, $176,028
Tie-3. Sally Nash, planning and zoning director, $176,028
Tie-3. Kevin Simmons, emergency management director, $176,028
4. Ed Jackson, police chief, $175,933
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5. Archie Trader, recreation and parks director, $167,070