After delays, FCPS superintendent says he will create database of salary information

Amid a budget crisis, a Fayette County Public SchoolS board member says Superintendent Demetrus Liggins must make public a list of district salaries with employee names attached, which is customary for many Kentucky public agencies.

When Monica Mundy made that request to Liggins Thursday night at a school board meeting, he said he was “totally open to that.” He asked Mundy to provide him with what she would like to see in addition to what’s already provided every month.

Mundy emailed Liggins Friday with an example of what she was asking for: “Name, salary, job title, and department of each employee in the district annually.”

Liggins replied by email less than 30 minutes later: “Thank you for the example. We will create a database to add to our transparency website.”

The transparency discussion comes as FCPS faces a $16 million budget shortfall and intense public criticism over a previous attempt to raise the occupational license tax, along with the revelation the district’s contingency fund is millions of dollars smaller than anticipated.

It’s not the first time Liggins has been asked to release more salary and position information.

Board member Amanda Ferguson on Friday provided the Herald-Leader with emails that show she has been making a request of Liggins for greater detail in salary and position information since 2023, noting the district provided more information in the past.

The emails show Liggins said he would provide more information and had apologized in 2024 for not delivering it. Ferguson said Friday that despite this, the information has never been given to her or made public.

“For most of my career, my own salary has been listed in a publicly available database alongside thousands of other employees,” Mundy told the Herald-Leader Friday.

Mundy is a University of Kentucky employee.

Under Kentucky law, salaries of public employees are a public record. Several major institutions in Kentucky — including state government, Jefferson County Public Schools and public universities — already publish annual databases that include employee names, job titles, departments and salaries, Mundy said.

“I understand this level of transparency can be uncomfortable for some, but it serves an important purpose. It promotes transparency in how the vast majority of our school district’s budget is spent, ensures accountability in the use of taxpayer dollars, and fosters openness with the community,” Mundy said.

Until a few years ago, the district regularly provided the position, the salary, the dates a position was created and the fund source, as shown in a 2021 document on the district website.

The June 2025 “position control document” on the district website had three columns. The first said, for example, “contract employee” with no employee name; the second described a position in generic terms, such as “administrative dean;” and the third provided a salary.

There was no date of when the position was created or the fund source, as Ferguson had been seeking.

‘”(Former board member) Tom Jones and I both started requesting that the position control document be re-added to the agenda in its original format sometime in late 2023 or early 2024. It has never returned to the regular agenda in that format,” Ferguson told the Herald-Leader Friday.

On Sept. 22, 2023, Ferguson wrote to Liggins in an email, “Thank you for including the position control document on this month’s agenda. Is there a reason the format has changed? In the past, it included salaries and the creation date of each position, and I would like to see that information as well.”

Two days later, Liggins wrote to Ferguson, “Thank you for your prompt attention to the position control document on this month’s agenda. I appreciate your diligence in reviewing the information.

“Regarding the format change, the adjustment was made due to the fact that the previous format proved to be extremely laborious and time-intensive, often requiring the involvement of several departments over an extended period. In an effort to streamline the process and allocate resources more efficiently, we opted for a more streamlined presentation,” Liggins wrote.

“However, I want to assure you that I understand the importance of the additional details you mentioned, specifically the inclusion of salaries and creation dates for each position. Given your request, I will have my team allocate the necessary time and resources to provide this information in the format you find most beneficial. It will not be ready in time for Monday’s board meeting though.

“As soon as it is complete, I will send it to you via email.”

That information never arrived.

Ferguson wrote another email to Liggins May 3, 2024, asking again for more complete salary and position information.

“I am revisiting this email from last fall and requesting that a full position control document be included on the board agenda each month. By full, I mean one that shows not only new positions for the fiscal year but all positions including salaries, creation dates, and funding source,” Ferguson said.

She added: “Transparency and fiscal responsibility are important to me, and I think taxpayers should be able to see this information on a regular basis.”

On May 4, 2024, Liggins replied, “Thanks for following back up about this. I apologize for not completing this task as intended. I’m not entirely sure where things fell through, but I take full responsibility for not following up as I had planned and mentioned in my previous email.

“As I explained in that email, creating this report is quite labor-intensive and involves coordination with several other departments. Considering the current workload on our budget team this month, with the extensive work required for finalizing the tentative budget, and the increased demands on many other departments due to the closing of the school year, I’m hesitant to add this additional task to their plates,” Liggins wrote.

He added, “That being said, I completely agree with your sentiment regarding transparency. It’s worth noting that we’ve made significant strides towards transparency during my tenure, including the introduction of initiatives like the Financial Transparency Dashboard and the Salary Calculator. Nevertheless, I’ll make sure it gets done this time, although I can’t commit to a specific timeline.”

But Friday, nearly 16 months after Liggins’ pledge to provide the information, Ferguson said she’s still waiting.

Liggins had not as of Saturday afternoon responded to Herald-Leader interview questions about the issue and the requests.

In addition to the more specific salary and position information, Ferguson is also asking for a list of positions at the district’s Central Office that have been previously cut. Liggins has said several jobs totaling $9 million have been eliminated in the office.

“I’d like to see that list of positions,” Ferguson said.

Fayette County occupational license tax rate increase

An advertisement for a Friday, Sept. 5 public hearing in Friday’s Herald-Leader says discussion may include mention of a previous proposal requesting the levy of an occupational license tax of 0.75 percent.

However, Thursday night, Liggins said he was recommending the proposal be taken off the table.

Friday, district spokesperson Miranda Scully told the Herald-Leader, “The ad in today’s paper was scheduled to post prior to last night’s meeting. The OLT is ‘off the table,’ as stated in the Herald Leader.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2025 at 11:31 AM.