Howard County: No Plans to Publish Employee Salaries Online

Howard County officials said they do not plan to follow Baltimore County, which  decided to publish its employees’ salaries online.

“The information is public, and we have provided it every time and to every person who has requested it—and we have done so quickly,” wrote county spokesman Kevin Enright in an e-mail. “But we do not plan on posting employees' salaries online at this time.”

Enright provided the top five highest-paid county government employees in Howard County the same day Patch made the request. They are as follows:

1. James Irvin, public works director: $182,083.20
2. Lonnie Robbins, chief administrative officer: $179,150.40
3. Ira Levy, chief information officer: $168,729.60
4. William McMahon, police chief: $166,504.00
5. Kenneth Ulman, county executive: $160,198.22

Salaries account for about 70 percent of the county government's non-education budget, or about $220 million of the $310 million budgeted to be spent in 2012, said county budget director Ray Wacks.

Baltimore County publishes the salaries of its 7,800 general county workers on the county government website, along with their names, hire dates and job titles.

Ellen Kobler, a spokeswoman for Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz,  the effort is part of fulfilling the county executive's promise for transparent and accountable government.

"Moving forward, there will be even more transparency and documentation of county government and what we do," Kobler said.

The person with the highest base salary in Baltimore County is Police Chief James Johnson, according to the Towson Times. Johnson's base salary is $204,750, according to the database.

Kamenetz has a base salary of $150,000, according to the Baltimore County database.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced a similar database on June 21. That database includes gross salary from July 1, 2010, to May 24, 2011, for Baltimore City employees. It also includes overtime, furlough reductions or other pay adjustments. Contract employees are included too. Compensatory and leave time are not included, in accordance with state law.