O’Malley top aides get pay increases

ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Martin O’Malley gave more than $600,000 in pay raises to 47 of his top aides at a time when legislative analysts are considering postponing raises for state employees to close a $333 million budget shortfall, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times.

The raises, which range between $2,167 and $33,265 — or between 2.3 percent and 37.5 percent of the employee’s salary — come as state lawmakers say they may have to cut $570 million or more in state spending.

The O’Malley administration defended the raises, saying Maryland needs to have a “professional, high-performing government that works.”

“During the past year, we have worked to reduce spending and eliminate positions. The current Office of the Governor has fewer staff positions and has reduced salary cost by nearly $700,000, compared to the previous administration,” said O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.

The salaries, listed in the budget bill presented to lawmakers each year for approval, were compiled by analysts in the Department of Legislative Services under an obscure requirement that mandates the governor’s office report executive branch employees who get more than the standard 2 percent pay raise.

Many of the raises went to O’Malley Cabinet secretaries, appointed officials who earn about $150,000 each. But deputy secretaries, executive assistants and program directors also were included in the analysis completed by the General Assembly’s budget analysts. The document only identifies employees by position title, not by name.

The superintendent of state police, Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, who left a job as Baltimore County police chief last year to run the state force, was given a raise of $33,265, or 25.7 percent.

Mr. O’Malley’s human resources secretary, Brenda Donald, received a $21,650 pay raise, from $129,560 to $151,210.

The state budget secretary, T. Eloise Foster, saw a pay increase from $154,963 in Mr. O’Malley’s fiscal 2008 budget to $162,825 in his fiscal 2009 budget proposal.

Mrs. Foster, who writes the state budget, said she earned more than what was reported in the fiscal 2008 budget, and that her salary in the fiscal 2009 budget should show no more than a 2 percent cost of living, or COLA, pay raise.

But budget analysts said the documents reflect salaries at the end of the last budget year and don’t always account for pay raises granted during the fiscal year.

Maryland governor’s have leeway to increase salaries for any state employee in the “executive pay plan.” Mrs. Foster also acknowledged that many cost-of-living pay raises are approved after the budget is passed.

In 2000, as mayor of Baltimore, Mr. O’Malley accepted a raise in salary from $95,000 to $125,000 that his predecessor had declined because of the city’s troubled financial condition. Baltimore at the time was facing a $158 million shortfall, but Mr. O’Malley also increased the salary potential for his top aides from a maximum of $108,700 to a maximum of $140,000.

According to the documents, top aides to Comptroller Peter Franchot, state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler were also budgeted to get raises between $4,517 and $22,607.

Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman said it was not right for Mr. O’Malley to raise top officials’ pay when state employees and Maryland residents can’t get the same benefits.

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