Dayton’s highest paid employees in 2017: I-Team Payroll Project

Editor's note: The Dayton Daily News I-Team is gathering payroll data for local governments across our region, as well as state government and higher education, as part of our Payroll Project. You can search Payroll Project data here. We are gathering payroll data for 2017 and will add it to the database as it is collected. If you have a suggestion for our Payroll Project, email I-Team reporter Josh Sweigart at Josh.Sweigart@coxinc.com.

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The city of Dayton paid 93 employees more than $100,000 last year, compared to 90 in 2016, according to the I-Team Payroll Project searchable database of public employees.

Local governments make payroll with your money, which is why the I-Team has assembled and made available a searchable database of pay for public employees.

City Manager Shelley Dickstein was the city’s highest-paid worker last year with compensation totaling $196,116. This is up from her $184,649 gross compensation in 2016.

Credit: HANDOUT

Unlike in previous years, none of the top 10 highest paid employees were departing administrators tapping into the city’s controversial “executive savings plan,” or employees cashing out accrued sick and vacation leave.

An I-Team investigation last year found the ability to cash out unused sick and vacation leave is a rare perk in the private sector, though local governments are on the hook for tens of millions of dollars worth of these payments.

SPECIAL REPORT: Taxpayers on hook for $444M in unused state worker leave

The I-Team searchable database only includes the 1,533 city employees paid more than $50,000 last year, so doesn't include city council members whose compensation – including things like travel reimbursements – ranged from $49,874 for Mayor Nan Whaley to $43,799 for departing commissioner Joey Williams.

The ten highest paid Dayton employees in 2017 were:

1. Shelley Dickstein, city manager: $196,116

2. Richard Biehl, police chief: $156,465

3. Tammi Clements, deputy city manager: $154,829

4. Terrence Slaybaugh, airport director: $146,791

5. Frederick Stovall, public works director: $138,828

6. Jeffrey Payne, fire chief: $137,872

7. Joseph Parlette, deputy city manager: $136,505

8. Michael Powell, water director: $134,142

9. Barbara Doseck, law director: $132,940

10. Kenneth Couch, human resource director: $132,522

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About the Author

Josh Sweigart

Josh Sweigart is an investigative reporter at the Dayton Daily News. His stories have focused on government waste, fraud, abuse and accountability in southwest Ohio, as well as the statehouse and U.S. Capitol.