Pay Compression, Part II: A 3-Year Look at ECSO W-2 Data

Total Compensation as reported on W-2 forms for the Escambia County Sheriff's Office for the last 3 tax years--where is the compression?

After reviewing total compensation figures reported on the W-2 forms for ECSO employees for the last three tax years (summarized in the table above), some interesting data emerges.

--As it relates to "pay compression" that has been indicated as a major issue within the ECSO, the spread between the pay bands above appears to indicate a normal distribution (without compression)-- with what looks like personnel that are near the top of the ranges being longer term employees nearing the end of a career, with a large number of personnel at the bottom of the chart either starting out, or working only part of the years in question, and a significant number of personnel in the middle range of pay--as one would expect to see with any large organization. 

--Over the last three tax years, a growing percentage of employees are entering the above $50K total compensation threshold, growing from just 18% of the employees earning more than $50K in 2014, to more than 26% going over that mark in 2016.  (Average Pensacola-area salary for 2016 is $41,388.00 according to Payscale.com.)

--On the other end of the spectrum, when we exclude employees that earned less than $19K (which includes a large number of new hires that did not stay on for a variety of reasons) We see that the total percentage of employees that earned total compensation of $49K or less has decreased significantly, from  70% of employees in 2014, to 67% of employees in 2015, to just 57% of employees in 2016.


I am told these W-2 figures indicated above include all compensation (assignment pay, shift differentials, police bonuses, educational attainment pay, longevity, overtime, etc.) however, these figures DO NOT include the compensation earned by deputies that work off-duty assignments.  (these officers receive IRS Form 1099's from private entities that hire deputies)  Therefore, in many instances, the pay for individual officers was actually higher than what is indicated in the chart above because the 1099 information is not available to add in to the totals.

Salary Compression Wasn't on the Radar......It Just Wasn't

Compression was not the issue the PBA's hand-selected candidate focused on...in fact it wasn't even on her radar....

As I posted before, Salary Compression was not a big issue in my campaign for office. It wasn't mentioned at all in our rallies..and I stand by that. The issues for our district, the big issues, were storm-water, infrastructure, growth management, economic development, OLF 8, etc.

Here is the proof:

On August 27th, the PNJ did an article on each of the candidates in the race for District 1; by August, the PBA had selected their candidate to endorse in my race, and this candidate went on to finish in last place in the election.  But this candidate, the hand-selected candidate of the PBA, had the opportunity to broadcast the TOP PRIORITIES in the campaign, and guess what?  Like I have said, and I stand by what I said---Salary Compression was not one of this candidate's priorities.  In fact, I never heard this candidate mention it in any of our multiple forums and debates--It never came up.

And to say that because I answered a questionnaire where the back page question mentions compression in the context of pay PROVES that compression was the top priority in my campaign--to make that the connection is absolutely ridiculous.  

Of course I know what pay compression is, I dealt with it in 2007-20012 as a member of the school board.  What I said was the sheriff never mentioned it to me as his top priority, and in the campaign at all the rallies it was never mentioned at all, and the PBA's eventual candidate, the one they endorsed, hand-selected, and gave money to, never mentioned it or made it a campaign issue.  This is the fact, these are the facts.

Here was the PBA-endorsed, hand selected candidate's TOP PRIORITIES from the PNJ article:

"What are your three priorities in office?

1. Develop a strategic plan for Escambia County that includes input from ALL aspects of the community. The county does not have a strategic plan. Who would run a $400 million company without a plan? Without a plan we spend more time in costly and wasteful chaos management than in moving the community forward.

As your Escambia County District 1 commissioner, I will propose the development of a County Strategic Plan that takes the politics out of process, and moves our community forward efficiently and cost effectively on its highest priorities. And I will ensure that you have a voice in the preparation of that strategic plan.

2. Take a portion of the funds dedicated to economic development and reinvest them in local businesses. This would create instant job growth at a low cost of additional employee acquisition. Develop existing businesses; support those who have already invested in our community; and grow jobs locally with a lower cost of new employee acquisition. For years I have watched the county give the Chamber of Commerce’s related economic development groups $550,000 annually of your tax dollars to recruit new jobs with very little return on investment. Many promises and announcements, but few actual new jobs.

3. Create a Beulah Area Master Plan with full citizen participation for OLF-8 and the surrounding areas, including the Bluffs in District 5. OLF-8, the 640-acre site adjacent to Navy Federal, has the potential to be the most important economic driver in Escambia County for the next 20 years."

"Salary Compression" Suddenly Erupts Like a Volcano in Escambia County........

...But during the hotly contested political campaign for the BCC District 1 seat--the issue of Salary Compression NEVER came up

I just recently won the election to take this seat.  I’ve been a commissioner for less than one year.   I fought through a very tough campaign with some very formidable and well-funded opponents.  We talked a lot about infrastructure, we talked a lot about storm water, we talked about traffic, we talked economic development and quality of life, we talked about OLF 8. We talked about lots of different subjects with the residents of District 1.

We talked about all these things and then some—bit here’s the peculiar thing, though.

We never talked about salary compression—it wasn’t on anyone’s radar.

Suddenly the issue of pay compression is the most pressing issue in the entire county.  The Sheriff’s office is saying the situation is approaching critical mass, and they are losing journeymen officers to higher paying departments.  I’m told that this has been a problem for many, many years.  Now ECSO is havingtrouble staffing and they’re cutting back on services and curtailing patrols insome districts?!?

One of my opponents was actually endorsed by the PBA union and even this candidate never discussed pay compression at the ECSO.  This candidate talked about a Master Plan for Beulah, a Strategic Plan for the county, hiring a grant writer full time, and a few other things that were “out-there” as issues all the candidates recognized…but even this PBA-endorsed, hand-selected candidate of the Sheriff’s office didn’t have this issue on the radar.  None of us did because it wasn’t an issue during the campaign.

When I won my primary on August 30th, 2016---one of the first calls of congratulations I received was from Sheriff Morgan.  He didn't bring up pay compression then,  and from the time I won my general election in August of 2016 until the Summer--Sheriff Morgan never reached out to me with