21 State Employees Earn More than $500K: Who Made the List?

According to Transparency Connecticut, which is a state government website, there are eight state employees that earn in excess of $1 million including fringe benefits for fiscal 2014-15, and there are a total of 21 state employees that earn more than $500,000 in salary and fringe benefits.

At the top of the list are the University of Connecticut’s men’s and women’s basketball coaches, which likely isn’t a surprise to many people. For many years Jim Calhoun was the top paid state employee and Kevin Ollie has assumed that mantle now, and Geno Auriemma is right behind him on the list.

If you’re curious, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is way, way down the list and in 2014-15 earned a combined salary and fringe benefits payment of $191,297, according to the website.

Numerous employees in the University of Connecticut Health Center are included on this list too.

In 2014-15 state employees earned a total of $6.26 billion in salary and fringe benefits. Currently, lawmakers are pursuing mass layoffs of state employees in an effort to plug a $960 million budget deficit.

Possibly between 2,000 to 2,500 state employee positions could be eliminated by July 1, 2016. Several hundred layoffs have already occurred and are ongoing.

Here are the top wage earners, which includes their fringe benefits. The website explains that fringe benefits include “employers costs for the normal cost of retirement, health insurance, group life insurance, FICA, Medicare, and unemployment compensation."

1. UConn Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin Ollie $2.97 million

2. Uconn Women’s Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma $2.34 million

3. University of Connecticut Head Football Coach Robert A. Diaco $1.65 million

4. UConn Health Center Hanspaul Makkar $1.28 million

5. UConn Health Center Frank M. Torti $1.24 million

6. UConn Health Center John C. Nulsen $1.23 million

7. UConn Health Center Hilary Onyiuke $1.06 million

8. UConn Health Center James D. Whalen $1.01 million

9. University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst $768,551

10. UConn Health Center Roy D. Beebe $721,816

11. UConn Health Center David W. McFadden $715,330

12. UConn Health Center Augustus D. Mazzocca $713,610

13. UConn Health Center Cato T. Laurencin $658,214

14. UConn Health Center Robert A. Arciero $646,161

15. UConn Health Center Kevin P. Shea $640,382

16. UConn Health Center Douglas W. Fellows $621,687

17. Former UConn Athletic Director Warde J. Manuel $617,010

18. UConn Health Center Isaac L. Moss $610,266

19. UConn Health Center Craig M. Rodner $605,051

20. UConn Health Center Ryan A. Zengou $597,572

21. UConn Health Center Jane M. Grant-Kels $582,100