Professors, doctors top list of best-paid state employees

OLYMPIA — You have to poke way down the list of best-paid Washington state employees to find Gov. Christine Gregoire's name.

The higher education Top 100, for instance, is headed by the University of Washington president, and everyone on the list makes more than $200,000 a year. On a separate Top 100 of other state employees, Gregoire, the head of government, ranks 29th, with a salary of $151,000 last year.

It turns out that some high-demand college professors and administrators, medical professionals who care for state clients or teach, money managers and a few government administrators make the big bucks.

The salary rankings, called "personnel detail" by the government, have been published every two years for the past 44 years by the state Office of Financial Management.

The budget office keeps a separate list for higher education, reflecting the market-driven salaries for college presidents, deans, provosts, coaches, professors, researchers and administrators who can be lured away to other colleges out of state.

No. 1 on the list is UW President Mark Emmert, at $518,700. Like other university presidents, he also gets a free house and other perks.

Nearly all of the Top 100 are from the UW. Dr. Donald Miller, a surgeon and medical-school professor, is No. 2, at $436,000, and Husky football coach Tyrone Willingham has a base salary of $425,000.

Washington State University President Lane Rawlins ranked eighth on the list, with pay of $325,000.

The other list, for general government, is dominated by medical professionals who administer programs or provide direct services for the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

The top-paid was Dr. Willa Terry, a physician for both DSHS and the UW, who earned $246,000. About three-quarters of those on the list are medical professionals, many of them psychiatrists at state mental hospitals at Medical Lake near Spokane and Lakewood, near Tacoma.

Nos. 2 and 3 on the list are the top officials at the state Investment Board. Director Joe Dear earned $209,000 last year, just ahead of his deputy, Gary Bruebaker, at $207,000. Six senior staffers also made the list.