At a time when Florida faces close to a $6 billion deficit in the coming year and an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, there are government employees commanding six-figure annual salaries–and some are saying there is something wrong with this picture.
TBO: A visit with the highest-paid government employees would take you from the University of South Florida, to the state Legislature in Tallahassee, to the Southwest Florida Water Management District in Brooksville.
It’s a level of pay that’s coming under greater scrutiny in tight economic times by a public that’s always skeptical of who’s on its payroll.
“When you’re reeling under mountains of debt, you can’t help but focus attention on these kinds of salaries,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a well-established Chicago-based executive outplacement firm.
