Who makes the most in Lexington government? Many are police officers, firefighters
More than 600 Lexington city employees made more than $100,000 in 2023 thanks to additional pay, such as overtime, according to city records analyzed by the Herald-Leader.
The bulk of those top earners were in police and fire departments. Of the 641 employees who made more than $100,000, 230 were in the fire department and 210 were police officers. That means 68% of those who made more than $100,000 can drive a police cruiser or fire truck.
The remaining high earners were upper-level city administrators or division directors, records show.
The Lexington Herald-Leader obtained payroll records for more than 4,500 employees who worked for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government in 2023 through a Kentucky Open Records Act request. Not all those employees worked the full year or full time.
The pay data includes base pay, overtime pay, education pay and other bonuses.
The data does not include additional one-time pay, such as retirement payouts or payouts for unused sick leave.
The city’s top-paid employee is Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers. He received $215,169 in 2023 and makes more than Mayor Linda Gorton. Eight employees — all police and fire officials — earn more than Gorton, city records show.
The mayor’s salary is set by the merged government charter. Her pay raises are tied to cost of living increases and are set by city ordinance. The same is true for the 15-member Urban County Council.
Here’s the top 10 earners for the 2023 calendar year:
- Police Chief Lawrence Weathers: $215,169
- Fire Chief Jason Wells: $213,602
- Police Commander David Biroschik: $197,512
- Police Assistant Chief Shawn Coleman: $187,932
- Police Sergeant Jeremy Russell: $187,772
- Police Assistant Chief Roger Holland: $187,233
- Police Assistant Chief James Lowe: $187,233
- Police Assistant Chief Brian Maynard: $187,23
- Mayor Linda Gorton: $178,802
- Communications specialist senior Jennifer Begley: $178,552
Police officers dominate top 20 earners, yet vacancies still high
The majority of the top 20 earners in 2023 were police officers — 12 of the top 20.
The city spends roughly 56% of its $532 million budget on public safety, budget documents for the current fiscal year show. That number includes all aspects of public safety — buildings, police cars, fire trucks and other operational expenses — not just salaries.
Still, the city has struggled to attract and keep police officers despite bumping pay through various efforts including sign-on bonuses and through the city’s collective bargaining agreements with its unions.
Firefighters, police and corrections have received substantial pay increases over the past five years.
“They have received pay raises between 21% and 31% since 2019,” said Public Safety Commissioner Kenneth Armstrong during a July 2 Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council Social Services and Public Safety committee meeting.
Those pay increases were due to negotiated raises as part of the city’s collective bargaining contracts. That figure does not include other types of raises commonly called step increases, Armstrong said.
“Some have received raises of 35, 36 or 37%,” Armstrong said. “21% is the lowest.”
The police department had an authorized strength of 639 and had 99 vacancies as of June 1, records show.
The department has hovered around 100 vacancies for several years.
Those 99 vacancies do not include 11 retired police officers the city has been able to re-hire through a new program authorized by the state, Armstrong said. The department also uses civilian clerks for things like traffic accident reports needed for insurance purposes, Armstrong said.
Additionally, the city has more than a dozen safety officers, who are not sworn officers but can help with traffic and other duties.
“That number changes daily,” Armstrong said of vacancies in the city’s public safety divisions.
Armstrong said the 2020 protests following the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minnesota have made it more difficult for police and some other public safety divisions to attract new people to the profession.
The situation is not unique to Lexington. Louisville Metro Police, Kentucky State Police and departments across the country have struggled in recent years to retain and attract new recruits.
Yet, things are starting to improve, Armstrong said. For example, there is a new police recruit class with 37 cadets starting in August. However, it is rare for all cadets to graduate, Armstrong cautioned during the July 2 council committee meeting.
Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge 4 President Jeremy Russell said due to staffing shortages, officers have had to work lots of overtime, driving up the number of officers who make more than $100,000.
For example, Russell, a sergeant, worked 658 hours of overtime in 2023, he said. Officers above the rank of commander are not eligible for overtime. The FOP is the police union.
“There is quite a lot of overtime due to us being short-staffed,” Russell said. In addition to overtime, police officers can also receive additional money for having a college degree and receive more than $4,400 in state training money. Police also can take their police vehicles home, which is not calculated as part of their pay benefits.
Russell said other police departments also increased their pay after the FOP signed its contract with the city in 2021.
“Other agencies’ benefits, like health insurance, far exceed ours,” Russell said.
Russell also said more support of police and police work from elected officials will help the department retain and recruit officers to the profession.
“Open and public backing from city leaders is crucial not just for recruitment but also for retaining our officers,” Russell said.” There is empirical evidence which supports and justifies competitive salaries and benefits.”
Pay increases have helped staffing levels at jail
The city also dramatically increased pay for Fayette County Department of Corrections officers over the past several years.
That hike in salaries, which included a new starting salary of slightly more than $50,000, has cut vacancies at the jail. At one point the detention center was more than 124 officers short in 2022, Armstrong said.
Morale plummeted at the jail during that period, correction officers told the council in 2022.
But the salary increases have shown dramatic improvements in staffing levels, Armstrong said.
As of June 1, there were 32 vacancies at the detention center. The department has an authorized strength of 323.
The city also hired Scott Colvin as the new Fayette County Detention Center director in 2022, which has upped morale at the Old Frankfort Pike jail, city officials have said.
According to payroll records, 55 employees in corrections made more than $100,000 in 2023.
Vacancies have not been a problem for the Lexington Fire Department, city records show. Firefighters, through a collective bargaining agreement approved in 2022, also received substantial pay raises in recent years. Firefighters also frequently work overtime shifts, driving up the number of firefighters who are paid more than $100,000.
The department has an authorized strength of 621. It has 27 vacancies but recently started a new training class with 21 recruits, Armstrong said.
Other top earners in city government
Outside of police and fire, many of the city’s other top earners in 2023 were heads of city departments and commissioners.
Commissioners and department heads do not receive overtime.
City employees not covered by union contracts have also received raises over the past several years but not the same hefty pay hikes as many in public safety. For example, this year city employees received a 3% raise. In 2023, they received a 5% raise.
In 2021, the city also approved other pay hikes and one-time bonuses for employees not covered by union contracts. It used $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act money, federal coronavirus relief funding, to pay for some of those salary increases.
Some other top earners not in police, fire or corrections:
- Chief Administrative Officer Sally Hamilton: $175,238.
- Law Commissioner Susan Speckert: $168,620.
- Chief Development Officer Kevin Atkins:$168,519
- Deputy Chief Information Officer Charles Cottle: $167,558
- Public Safety Commissioner Kenneth Armstrong:$164,133
- Director of Technical Services Michael Nugent: $164,019
- Director of Water Quality Charles Martin: $160,843
- Social Services Commissioner Kacy Allen-Bryant: $159,336
- Finance Commissioner Erin Hensley: $159,336
- Housing Advocacy and Community Development Commissioner Charlie Lanter: $159,336
The following database is for total salary compensation, including overtime and other bonus pay, for Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council employees for the 2023 calendar year.
