Comptroller Calls it the "$100,000 Club"

BUFFALO, NY - The Erie County Comptroller's office has put the County Executive and Legislature on notice about a recent audit. It revealed that 723-county employees cost taxpayers $100,000 more in salary, benefits, overtime, cash-outs and other costs.

County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw calls it the $100,000 Club. A county nurse had a base salary $54,053 last year, but overtime totaled $85,031.

Those making $100,000 based on salary and other benefits make up 18-perccent of the county's workforce. There are 4,187 full-time county employees.

According to the comptroller's report, the following departments were highest on the list for the number of full-time workers that cost more than $100,000 in 2012 in salary, benefits, overtime, and other bonuses:

Jail management - 301 employees
Sheriff's Office - 102 employees
District Attorney's Office - 55 employees
Social Services Department - 55 employees
Health Department - 42 employees
Sewer Management Division - 26 employees
Central Police Services - 22 employees
Public Works/Highways - 19 employees
Probation Department - 14 employees
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library - 10 employees

"There is a big difference between someone's take home pay and how much it's costing every single taxpayer. Either way that's how much the bill is coming in for Erie County and our taxpayers," said Mychajliw.

The Erie County Executive's spokesman Peter Anderson told 2 On Your Side, "mixing salary and overtime expenses with fringe benefits produces some skewed numbers. In 2012, using the Comptroller's own data for "total wages" (base salary, OT, sick bonus), only 106 employees made over $100,000. That's only 2% of the county workforce, and 58% of those workers are Sheriff's personnel.

Click here to view the story