Payroll Project: Montgomery County’s highest paid employees in 2023

The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab is losing clients but officials say its financial situation has stabilized. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab is losing clients but officials say its financial situation has stabilized. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

Montgomery County paid 367 employees more than $100,000 last year, according to the Dayton Daily News Payroll Project.

The county agency with the highest paid workers — including half of the 14 paid more than $200,000 — was the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.

County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger said the forensic pathologists at the top of the pay scale have medical degrees, and their pay must be competitive because there is a nationwide shortage of forensic pathologists.

Harshbarger was paid $91,279 last year. He is designated a “part time” county coroner, and has another job as the full-time chief deputy coroner of the Franklin County Coroner’s Office where he is paid more than $300,000.

The Montgomery County department with more six-figure pay than any other last year is the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. For many, this was caused by overtime. Only a handful of commanders had base pay over $100,000.

Because forensic pathologists make up most of the top 10, we are listing the top 20 highest paid Montgomery County employees below:

1. Sean Swiatkowski, forensic pathologist: $288,464

2. Susan Brown, Forensic Pathologist: $278,066

3. Kevin Jenkins, chief deputy coroner: $273,066

4. Bryan Casto, forensic fellow: $257,727

5. Lee Lehman, forensic pathologist: $243,839

6. Debra Armanini, assistant county prosecutor: $242,671

7. Mary Goolsby, forensic pathologist: $234,492

8. Daryl Wilson, sheriff’s office chief deputy: $233,213

9. Brian Martin, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission executive director: $217,450

10. Michael Colbert, Montgomery County administrator: $214,401

11. Pamela Combs, Montgomery County Developmental Disabilities superintendent: $213,207

12. Alice Briones, forensic pathologist: $208,700

13. William Montgomery, Montgomery County Auditor’s Office director of accounting: $203,671

14: Helen Jones-Kelley, ADAMHS Board executive director: $203,414

15. Catherine Evans, chief deputy auditor: $180,701

16. Chris Williams, assistant county administrator: $178,747

17. Geraldine Pegues, assistant county administrator: $178,725

18. Jordan Lee, sheriff’s office deputy (including $90,431 in overtime): $174,838

19. Daniel Brandt, assistant county prosecutor: $173,949

20. Tyler Small, assistant county administrator: $173,881

The employer for government agencies is the voting and taxpaying public. As with any other employer, the public has not just a right but a responsibility to know how much its employees are paid in the interest of good stewardship.

Go here for a searchable database of public employee pay for local gover

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