Montgomery County had 108 employees make over $100,000 in 2018, up from the 103 employees that passed that threshold in 2017, according to public county records obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
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Recently retired County Administrator Joseph Tuss kept his spot as the highest paid Montgomery County employee for the second year in a row. Tuss cashed out $134,293 in unused vacation and sick leave when he retired, according to the payroll records.
A Dayton Daily News investigation in 2017 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.
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Lee Lehman, a chief deputy coroner profiled in the 2017 story because he retired in 2016 and cashed out nearly $200,000 in sick and vacation leave before being rehired by the county, was the 16th highest-paid worker in 2018. Lehman received $166,680 in gross compensation in 2018.
Local governments make payroll with your money, which is why the Dayton Daily News has assembled and made available a searchable database of pay for public employees.
Montgomery County’s 10 highest-paid employees in 2018 were:
1. Joseph Tuss, county administrator: $277,907
2. James Dare, deputy court administrator: $203,151
3. Kent Harshbarger, coroner: $195,992
4. Bryan Casto, forensic fellow: $190,597
5. Susan Brown, forensic pathologist: $189,997
6. Robert Shott, forensic pathologist: $189,497
7. Brian Martin, executive director of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission: $187,347
8. Russell Uptegrove, forensic pathologist: $185,612
9. Michael Dohn, health department medical director: $184,205
10. Timothy Nolan, office of management and budget director: $180,045
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