Payroll Project: Springfield city doubles six-figure earners in 2023

The city of Springfield paid 83 employees over $100,000 in 2023, according to the Payroll Project, an annual reporting project from the Springfield News-Sun and Dayton Daily News.

This number is nearly double the 42 employees who earned six figures in 2022. The police department accounted for 36 six-figure salary earners in 2023, compared to just six in 2022.

The increase of police making over six figures is due to pay increases for officers, sergeants and lieutenants that went into effect Jan. 1, 2023, according to Springfield Human Resources director Jim Bodenmiller.

But Chris Armstrong, president of the Springfield Police Patrol Association, said the top pay for a patrol officer in the new contract is about $79,000.

“The reason why they’re making over $100,000 a year is because the city is failing to meet their city charter requirement as far as manning, so they have all these guys working a boatload of overtime,” he said.

He said the city hasn’t met the mandated staffing level of 124 officers since 2013, even after voters in 2017 agreed to a 0.4% income tax increase meant to hire six additional officers to combat the heroin epidemic, among other things.

Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliot said SPD is close to the mandated staffing level but is seeing waves of retirees leaving at once. She said overtime is common, contributing to higher wages for some officers, but SPD is working on recruitment for more officers.

The Springfield Fire Department had 14 employees who were paid at least $100,000 in 2023, down slightly from 15 in 2022.

The voting and taxpaying public is the employer for government agencies. 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 state and local government pay across our region.

The highest-paid city of Springfield employees last year were:

1. Bryan Heck, city manager: $187,919

2. Brian Miller, fire chief: $167,884

3. Thomas Franzen, assistant city manager/economic development director: $167,825

4. Christopher Moore, service director: $163,108

5. Jill Allen, law director: $159,834

6. Allison Elliot, police chief: $152,406

7. Shannon Meadows, community development director: $148,530

8. Katie Eviston, director of finance: $147,095

9. James Bodenmiller, human resources director: $141,523

10. Michael Kranz, police captain-cs: $140,606