The top elected officials in Montgomery County do not necessarily take home more pay than some of the people who work either for them or alongside them in leadership roles.
At least five county officials make more money annually than the top elected official, County Executive Doug Duncan.
They include Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, Fire Chief Thomas Carr, Health and Human Services Director Carolyn Colvin, Homeland Security Director Gordon Aoyagi and Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Romer.
Romer, the former manager of Rockville, was appointed by Duncan in 1995 and reports to him. But, Romer, a graduate of the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania, makes $224,451 annually to Duncan’s yearly fixed $158,285.
It’s because the executive’s salary is set in the county charter and is under the jurisdiction of the County Council, said Duncan spokeswoman Donna Bigler.
“It is probably a common occurrence that this exists when one salary is fixed by law,” Bigler said.
Duncan, a Columbia University graduate, is finishing his third four-year term and is a Democratic candidate for governor.
Montgomery is the most populous of all of the state’s counties, with more than 927,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census bureau. In the Washington area, it is rivaled only by Fairfax County, which has more than a million residents.
Montgomery has about 8,200 county employees, not counting the school system, Bigler said. The county’s schools employ an additional 20,000 people, half of who are teachers, according to Montgomery County Public Schools’ Web site.
Fairfax has 11,000 employees, not including those with the public schools. Fairfax’s top official, County Executive Anthony Griffin, who is appointed by the county’s Board of Supervisors, makes $204,745 annually.
The county’s top elected official, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly, makes $59,000 annually, according to a county spokesman.
“They have to be competitive,” Bigler said. “If you look around the metro area, you have police departments, teachers competing with each other. Setting a salary is pretty critical to the success of a county.”
If salary is an indicator of a county’s success, then Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast is leading the class.
Weast, who has led school systems in Kansas and was a 2004 finalist for the National Superintendent of the Year, makes $237,794 per year. That salary was determined during contract negations with the board, spokesman Brian Edwards said.
Weast, who was hired 1999, is selected by the Board of Education.
The “department head salaries reflect the usual elements in setting a salary, years of experience, levels of expertise and market rates,” Bigler said.
