EAST HARTFORD – More than 1,200 state employees earned over $150,000 last year, making each of them better paid than Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy.
Connecticut’s median household income is $69,243, according to the Census Bureau. The governor’s salary, which is set by state statute at $150,000 a year, is more than twice that. Yet Gov. Malloy was only the state’s 1,224th highest paid employee in 2012, according to new data released today by the Yankee Institute.
A total of 7,712 state employees were paid more than $100,000 in 2012. The state paid 66,613 full or part-time employees last year.
“$150,000 or $100,000 a year is considered very good money by most Connecticut families. That well over a thousand state employees earn more than the governor points to the amount of bloat that exists in state government,” said Fergus Cullen, executive director of the Yankee Institute.
The Yankee Institute published the names and salaries of all the state employees who were paid more than the governor here. The data was obtained from the Office of the State Comptroller in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Nearly half of the individuals making more than $150,000 are associated with UConn (290) or the UConn Health Center (301). Of the top ten highest paid state employees in 2012, all were associated with UConn or the UConn Health Center:
| Employee | Position | Agency/Institution |
2012 Pay |
| Calhoun, James A. | Men’s Basketball Head Coach | UConn |
$2,865,769 |
| Auriemma, Geno | Women’s Basketball Head Coach | UConn |
$1,829,052 |
| Pasqualoni, Paul L. | Football Head Coach | UConn |
$1,613,920 |
| Onyiuke, Hilary | Chief, Division of Neurosurgery | UConn Health Center |
$1,030,732 |
| Nulsen, John | Director, Center for Advanced Reproductive Services | UConn Health Center |
$917,373 |
| Makkar, Hanspaul | Chief, Division of Pediatric Dermatology | UConn Health Center |
$916,600 |
| Whalen, James | Vice Chair, Dermatology | UConn Health Center |
$884,602 |
| Laurencin, Cato | CEO, Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science | UConn Health Center |
$701,576 |
| Herbst, Susan | President | UConn |
$612,500 |
| McFadden, David | Chief, Department of Surgery | UConn Health Center |
$576,923 |
| Manuel, Warde | Athletic Director | UConn |
$551,305 |
“We aren’t saying the governor is overpaid or underpaid, nor do we begrudge a small number of uniquely skilled state employees who are highly paid, especially those with medical and science backgrounds,” Cullen said. “But the average taxpayer in Connecticut has to look at the list of 1,223 state employees who are paid more than the governor and think, ‘A, there’s a lot of bloat in state government and B, how do I get one of those jobs?’”
