Idaho organization launches salary database

The Idaho Freedom Foundation created a database on OurIdaho.com in which people can search for the names and salaries of government employees, KTVB.com reported. The IFF obtained the data via FOIA requests, and its database contains nearly 40,000 employees.

Want to know how much money your child's teacher makes? How about the police officer who pulled you over last night?

Now you can.

A group that bills itself as a think tank dedicated to limited government has launched a salary database, that allows anyone to look up the names and pay rates for a range of government employees.

More here.

Maine's budget Web site may exclude employees' names

Maine legislators are considering a bill that would block salary information on individual state, county, municipal, school and university employees from MainOpenGov.org, the AP reported.

A bill before Maine lawmakers would block the names of people listed on a Web site that enables the public to search the state budget by category or employee.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Lisa Marrache, a Waterville Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would limit information on the Maine Heritage Policy Center's Web site, MaineOpenGov.org. The Web site won praise by the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, which promotes open government.

Marrache's bill says salary information relating to an individual state, county, municipal, school, University of Maine System, Maine Community College System or Maine Maritime Academy employee would be confidential. Marrache told the Kennebec Journal she's gotten complaints from several state employees about the Web site.

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NY Daily News compiles list of city's top overtime employees

With more than $100,000 in overtime pay, several city employees are making more than the mayor, the NY Daily News reported.

The lean times have yet to catch up with city government's bonus babies - scores of workers are still racking up hefty six-figure overtime.

The king of New York overtime remains Pablo Martinez, a Board of Elections senior systems analyst who scored $144,768 in overtime last year. He has been top overtime dog for several years.

Adding his base pay of $91,210, Martinez made $235,978. Not exactly A-Rod money, but it's still almost $11,000 more than the mayor's official $225,000 salary.

More here.

FOIA request reveals Rodriguez cost Michigan $6.6 million

When you add up the buyout, taxes, his salary and other compensation, Rich Rodriguez cost the University of Michigan $6.6 million, the Ann Abor News reported after obtaining records from an FOIA request. That amounts to $2.2 million for each of the team's wins this season.

Rich Rodriguez wasn't paid $6.6 million to coach the University of Michigan's football team last year, but that's how much he cost the school.

A Freedom of Information Act request by the Ann Arbor News revealed Michigan paid $4.1 million to cover part of Rodriguez's buyout and related taxes from his contract at West Virginia.

Rodriguez's salary and other compensation amounted to an additional $2.5 million. To give that $6.6 million figure perspective, the News noted that school president Mary Sue Coleman earns $553,500 annually and athletic director Bill Martin gets $380,368.

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Salary studies are public, judge says

Salary studies used by the Radnor school board when it granted raises for administrators are public records, a Delaware County Court judge has ruled.

The decision by Robert C. Wright is the latest round in a dispute that began last year when former Radnor school board member Judy Sherry asked for the data.

In a sharp rebuke to the board, which contended that the documents were not public records, Wright, in a June 30 decision, also ordered the board to pay $26,070 for Sherry's attorneys' fees and $2,901 in other costs.

The board must pay, the judge said, because in withholding one salary study that was clearly covered by Pennsylvania's Right to Know Act, it "willfully or with wanton disregard deprived [Sherry] of access to a public record" and "asserted exemptions, exclusions or defenses that were not based on a reasonable interpretation of the law."

The Radnor School District, which has spent $13,258 for its own attorney's fees and costs with more yet to come, has asked Wright to reconsider both his verdict and awarding of the fees, saying he made several factual and legal errors.

The documents' release is on hold until the judge decides. The district can appeal his ruling.

Sherry, who has clashed with the Radnor board on many issues and has long pushed for open records, said the decision will encourage the public to get involved in district affairs.

"We want to be able to hold people accountable" for their actions, she said.

In May 2007, Sherry asked the Radnor board for a Pennsylvania School Boards Association analysis of administrator salaries and an in-house document outlining compensation for administrators in neighboring school districts. She also asked the board for the cost to the district of an unrelated court filing.

The board had recently signed a contract with district administrators and had given four administrators additional salary increases. "I wanted to see exactly what facts they considered when they reached their decision," Sherry said.

More here.