Nearly five years have passed since we last shared with you the salaries of the 10 highest-paid employees in both Charlottesville and Albemarle. And not much has changed. Charlottesville still pays its employees better than Albemarle, and many of the names in the top 10 of jurisdictions remain the same. This time around, however, all of the top 10 salaries have risen well above $100,000. In 2004, the lowest salary was $87,133; this year the lowest is $120,339.91. [Here’s a PDF of that list]
On the other end of the salary spectrum, the lowest-paid County employees earn $20,300.70. Though we don’t have an exact number for the lowest City employee salary, all City employees “make over $10 per hour,” according to spokesman Ric Barrick, meaning the salaries of the lowest-paid City employees are probably about the same as in the County. 655 people are employed by the County, and 916 people are employed by the City. These figures do not include school system personnel. The median salary in the County is $63,619 while the median salary in the City is a much lower $37,195.
One thing that has certainly changed since 2004 is the state of the economy. The country remains in the midst of one of the worst ever economic downturns, and it shows in the budgets of both localities. The 2010 county budget, adopted on April 8, is $303.7 million, which is about $30 million less than last year’s budget. The city budget, adopted on April 14, did not decrease, but the 2010 budget of $142.4 million represents the smallest year-to-year increase in a decade.
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