Report: Ohio state employees earned $3B, including $113M in OT last year

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

State employees earned nearly $3 billion last year, including more than $113 million in overtime pay, according to a new report from the Department of Administrative Services.

The agency annually releases spreadsheets listing how much state employees earned in the previous year. The statistics include employees’ names, titles, agencies and breakdowns of their earnings.

The 2014 Ohio Employee Data Report includes details on more than 59,400 workers who received pay last year. That number is higher than the actual workforce, as it includes retirees and employees who may have not been on staff for the entire year.

An employee count released earlier by DAS put the workforce total at 51,792 as of December. At the end of February, that number was up slightly to 51,879. State-employee numbers have generally declined since 2000.

The 2014 payroll was up about one-tenth of 1 percent from the previous year but was lower than paycheck totals for 2012 and 2011, said Beth Gianforcaro, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.

A total of 66 state employees earned $190,000 or more last year, Gianforcaro said. Eighty-two employees earned between $150,000 and $180,000.

At the top of the list was Zinovi Goubar, a psychiatrist at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, who grossed $394,704.94. Of that, $218,432.50 was overtime pay.

All but five of the top 100 earners were doctors, psychiatrists or otherwise connected to medical services.

Gov. John Kasich’s pay was listed at $148,315.68, the second-highest in the governor’s office. The top earner there was his chief of staff, Beth Hansen, who earned $177,866.24. Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who heads the state’s insurance department, also earned more than the governor, $150,404.80.

State employees earned more than $113 million in overtime pay last year, with the departments of transportation and public safety accounting for the biggest increases, likely due to weather-related duties, Gianforcaro said. The overtime was higher than totals posted in 2013, ’12 or ’11.

Thirty-nine state employees earned $50,000 or more in overtime pay last year.

State employees also earned nearly $39 million in compensatory time, $60 million-plus in sick time, $191 million in vacation pay and nearly $23 million in personal days. State employees are allowed 32 hours of personal time annually to use as they wish.

More than 46,000 state employees listed their ethnic group as “white,” about 9,800 listed “black,” about 945 listed “Asian” and nearly 750 listed “Hispanic.” More than 1,700 did not list an ethnic group.