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

According to Transparency Connecticut, which is a state government website, there are seven state employees that earn in excess of $1 million, including fringe benefits for fiscal 2015-16, and there are a total of 29 state employees that earn more than $500,000 in salary, wages 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 2015-16 earned a combined salary and fringe benefits payment of $192,145, according to the website.

Numerous employees in the University of Connecticut Health Center are also included on this list. The University of Connecticut Health Center employees who made the list are doctors, and many of the physicians on the list below are credited with bringing in millions of dollars in revenue for the state.

A state employee also noted that state union employees often make significantly less than industry or private employment pays its workers.

In 2015-16 state employees earned a total of $6.334 billion in salary and fringe benefits. In 2014-15 state employees earned a total of $6.26 billion.

• To sign up for Patch's free news alerts about your local community in Connecticut click here.

Here are some of the changes from the 2014-15 to 2015-16 fiscal year. In 2014-15 there were eight state employees earning in excess of $1 million in salary, wages and fringe benefits and that number has been reduced to seven for 2015-16. However, the number of employees earning in excess of $500,000 in salary, wages and fringe benefits increased from 25 to 29 in 2015-16.

Malloy is currently seeking concessions from state workers and if he doesn’t receive them another 4,200 state jobs could be eliminated in an effort to address a multi-year billion dollar budget deficit, the Connecticut Mirror has reported.

Here are the top salary and wage earners, which also 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 $3.15 million

2. Uconn Women’s Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma $2.46 million

3. University of Connecticut Head Football Coach Robert A. Diaco $1.83 million (no longer the head football coach)

4. UConn Health Center John C. Nulsen $1.24 million

4. UConn Health Center James D. Whalen $1.24 million

6. UConn Health Center Hanspaul Makkar $1.1 million

7. UConn Health Center Hilary Onyiuke $1.07 million

8. University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst $986,099

9. UConn Health Center Isaac L. Moss $809,545

10. UConn Health Center Augustus D. Mazzocca $760,332

11. UConn Health Center David W. McFadden $729,388

12. UConn Health Center Ryan A. Zengou $708,561

13. UConn Health Center Cato T. Laurencin $671,529

14. UConn Health Center Roy D. Beebe $666,750

15. UConn Health Center Robert A. Arciero $662,977

16. UConn Health Center Kevin P. Shea $662,146

17. UConn Health Center Douglas W. Fellows $633,655

18. UConn Health Center Frank M. Torti $628,882 million

19. UConn Health Center Craig M. Rodner $611,804

20. Former UConn Athletic Director Warde J. Manuel $598,746

21. UConn Health Center Molly A. Brewer $561,370

22. UConn Health Center Thomas A. DeBerardino $545,512

23. UConn Health Center Peter C. Albertsen $544,231

24. UConn Health Center Bruce T. Liang $538,977

25. UConn Health Center Denis Lafreniere $524,046

26. UConn Health Center Bruce E. Strober $504,848

27. UConn Health Center Jennifer M. Wolf $504,146

28. UConn Health Center Jeffrey B. Gross $502,666

29. UConn Health Center Winston A. Campbell $501,611