Western-Star.com

They run our schools, maintain our cities and protect our communities. Any idea how much you and other Warren County residents pay them for their help?

This week, The Western-Star takes a look at school district and local government payrolls in our annual Progress edition. We gathered information for every public employee in the county paid $50,000 or more in 2005.

Warren County continues to ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau among the fastest-growing counties in the nation. The new residents have raised average household income to an estimated $81,722.

That prosperity is reflected in what cities, villages, townships and school districts pay their workers.

Local schools

People in Mason and Deerfield Twp. take care of the people who work for them in the 9,800-student Mason school district.

They've made Superintendent Kevin Bright and School Treasurer Dick Gardner the best-paid public employees in Warren County and among the highest paid in the state.

Bright was paid $146,728 in 2005 and Gardner $131,595. The state average superintendent salary is $93,814, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

Kevin Wise, school board president, said Bright and Gardner are worth every penny.

"Our two top administrators are very experienced and running one of the best districts in the state," Wise said. "I feel they are competitively paid and I'm happy with that."

Bright and Gardner have led the district to the state's highest ranking on the school report card six years consecutively.

Mason schools also have some of the highest-paid instructors with five teachers making more than $80,000. But Wise said the average teacher salary in Mason is $49,481 — just below the $50,080 state average.

"Over time we think that is a better way to look at it," he said.

County government

Think computers run everything? How about the folks running the computers.

Gary Browning, data processing director for the county government, is paid $118,937 a year. That's more than his boss, county Auditor Nick Nelson and more than any elected Warren County official.

"For the complexity of the job it doesn't surprise me," Browning said. "It's a challenging job."

Browning runs a department of about 30 employees responsible for computer systems and data processing from property tax bills to Web site development.

"Virtually everything that has to do with information technology we do in this department," he said.

Browning has been with the county government since 1980.

Jails and prisons

The wardens and head guards don't necessarily take home the biggest pay checks at the two state prisons located on Ohio 63 in Turtlecreek Twp.

Some nurses and psychologists earn more than $85,000 annually — slightly more than the warden and corrections officer captains.

Ellen Myers, public information officer at Lebanon Correctional Institution, said nurses are in high demand in the corrections field, staffs are short and much of their pay comes from overtime.

"We have a 37 percent vacancy rate on medical personnel," Myer said. "In our department we have a difficult time recruiting nurses to come here because we can't offer the signing bonuses some hospitals have."

Police officers

Larry Sims, Warren County's chief sheriff's deputy, earns about $3,000 a year more than his boss, Sheriff Tom Ariss.

Sims, who has 28 years law enforcement experience and six years with the county, is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the sheriff's department.

"If you look around the state, especially in the larger jurisdictions, there is a lot of administrative staff that are making more than the sheriff," Ariss said.

That's because sheriffs' salaries are based on population and set by the state, while employees, like Sims, receive annual cost-of-living increases, he said.

Contact Christopher Magan at (513) 696-4525 or cmagan@coxohio.com