How much do you make?

Turns out, that’s a very intimate question, tied up in identity, self-worth and a whiff of secrecy.

We know the broad numbers. The average Tampa Bay resident makes $45,434 annually. Our average service job pays just $26,305. Lots of folks make Florida’s minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. There are four billionaires who call Tampa Bay home.

But dry statistics can be boring, while people are interesting. Inspired by Parade magazine’s list of what regular Americans earn doing their jobs, we put together an earnings snapshot of the Tampa Bay area. It’s not scientific, but it illuminates in a way a headline or number can’t capture.

So that meant asking people what they make. I thought it would be easy.

People were very reluctant to talk about their income. Some feared discipline from their bosses. Others feared jealousy from colleagues (if they made too much) or judgment from friends (if they made too little). A few low-earners didn’t want to discourage people from entering the field they love. (And public officials, paid by your tax dollars, are part of the public record.)

Below are some of the brave souls who shared their earnings.

Let’s start with me. I make $39,000.

Margarita Romo (right), with volunteer, Rosalinda Campanilla (left) and other volunteers with the Farmworkers Self-Help organization package and hand out groceries to needy families at the Norma Godinez Learning Center in Dade City on Thursday, May 24, 2018. Times | LANCE ROTHSTEIN

Margarita Romo

81 Dade City Activist and pastor $12,800*

*$10,800 from Social Security and $2,000 from Farmworkers Self-Help Inc.

Norma Godinez didn’t die in vain.

The 5-year-old and daughter of migrant farmworkers was killed in 1981 after an accident in a field. Her death kick-started the activism of Margarita Romo, who has dedicated her life to improving the lives of the people who still labor picking fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Romo, who grew up working in the fields, founded Farmworkers Self-Help Inc. in 1982 in Dade City as a direct response to Godinez’s death.

“Children should not be in the field,” Romo said. “Children should be in a place that’s safe.”

Today, Farmworkers Self-Help is a lifeline for those field workers, providing English classes, translation services and a soup kitchen. The group helps pair those in need of legal assistance with family and immigration attorneys and gives rides to Moffitt Cancer Center. It connects undocumented parents who are being deported back to Mexico with legal adults willing to adopt their American children. The organization fostered a church, a barbershop and a fruit stand and also runs theater and dance groups for children.

Some of the children who have passed through the organization have become doctors and lawyers. Others have died or are in prison.

• • •

Derek Donnelly poses for a portrait in his studio in Pinellas Park on Thursday, May 24, 2018. Donnelly is a local artist who has painted many murals in Downtown St. Petersburg. EVE EDELHEIT | Times

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Derek Donnelly

35 Pinellas Park Muralist $50,000

Derek Donnelly was enrolled in an arts magnet program at Gibbs High School. The college-level courses were so intense, he lost interest in art after graduating in 2001.

“I was kind of burned out after a few years in high school,” he said. “And I was kind of discouraged, too.”

Inspired by what he called “a spark of something magical” in downtown St. Petersburg, Donnelly returned to art at 27 after years of odd jobs.

In 2012, he opened up a studio on Central Avenue, investing all the money he had, $2,000 or $3,000, into the space.

“A horrible business plan,” he said. He closed the studio in 2014. “But it definitely served its purpose.”

These days, Donnelly’s mural work is all over town. His rise as an artist has closely paralleled that of St. Petersburg as an art town.

• • •

Laurie Kelaita, 46, of Lutz, prepares to set rat traps in a home in Odessa on Tuesday (5/22/18) while working with her company, Superior Animal Trapping. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times

Laurie Kelaita

47 Lutz Animal trapper $48,000

Animal trapping wasn’t Laurie Kelaita’s first career. Before that, she spent two decades as a professional hairdresser.

“I love hair and I’m really good at it,” she said. “I’ve always been good at it.”

She left it behind in 2009 — “there was too much drama” — and became a certified nursing assistant. After her father died in 2015, she took to trapping to feel closer to him.

She had grown up on his rice farm in California, chasing away the coyotes and rats that threatened the crops. She has four pairs of his cowboy boots, and wears his old belt every day on the job.

• • •

Pablo Herrera

22 St. Petersburg Part-time barista and student $6,537

• • •

Becca McCoy

40 Gulfport Actor $15,000

• • •

Shawn Hamilton

39 St. Petersburg Visual coordinator at HSN $30,000

• • •

Robbie Crowley

32 Lakeland Frontier Airlines flight attendant $17,568

• • •

Carmen Taylor

54 St. Petersburg Server at Munch’s $38,000*

*Includes wage and tips

• • •

Kenny Oliver

47 St. Petersburg Auto mechanic $22,360

• • •

Chris Bridges

54 South Pasadena Engineer with Hillsborough County $111,000

• • •

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Shelly Cooper

42 Riverview Housekeeper at Tampa General Hospital $26,000

• • •

Christopher Baxter

42 Tampa Armed guard with G4S $27,560

• • •

Milen Santiago

46 Riverview Leasing agent $50,000

• • •

Luanna Baughman

47 Lakeland Tampa Fire Rescue captain $99,590

• • •

Deandre Gwinn

23 St. Petersburg Publix cashier $18,278

• • •

Chelsea Kuzel

24 St. Petersburg Personal trainer at 4U Fitness $30,000

• • •

Raisel Rodriguez

38 Tampa Long-haul truck driver who owns his own rig $180,000

• • •

Susan McNulty

50 New Port Richey Mitchell High School journalism teacher* $54,731

* Pasco County’s 2018 teacher of the year

• • •

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Vadim Jhebotar

38 Hudson Short-haul truck driver $40,000

• • •

Yari Gulvin

“I like that I can bond with certain clients.”

27 Dade City State Farm insurance agent $40,000

• • •

Liz Smith

54 St. Petersburg Bloomin’ Brands CEO $7.45 million*

*In base salary, stock options and other compensation.

• • •

Peggy Capps

69 Ridge Manor Antiques dealer in Dade City $25,000

• • •

Adriana Contreras

47 Dade City Salon owner $9,000

• • •

Richard Ripplinger

60 Seminole Assistant state attorney $135,110

• • •

Enrique Velazquez

42 Zephyrhills Construction worker $15,000

• • •

Philip J. Federico

61 St. Petersburg Circuit judge $160,688

• • •

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Kristy Andersen

66 St. Petersburg Documentary filmmaker $4,000-$30,000

Minimum of $4,000 in DVD sales annually, plus Social Security and up to $30,000, dependent on grants



• • •

Judy Genshaft

70 Tampa University of South Florida System president $505,837*

*On top of that base, she’s eligible for up to a $300,000 performance-based stipend and $101,167 in deferred compensation

• • •

Karyn Kinzie

37 Port Richey Principal of Fox Hollow Elementary School $75,499

• • •

Rick Kriseman

55 St. Petersburg St. Petersburg mayor $188,131

• • •

Bob Buckhorn

59 Tampa Tampa mayor $154,748

• • •

Kanika Tomalin

42 St. Petersburg St. Petersburg deputy mayor and city administrator $185,000

• • •

Michael Gulley

26 St. Petersburg Pilot $120,000*

*In base salary, plus up to $20,000 in incentives.

• • •

Bonnie Bresnyan

55 Temple Terrace Lewis Elementary School special education teacher* $66,200

*Hillsborough County’s 2018 teacher of the year.

• • •

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Jameis Winston

24 Odessa Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback $3.891 million

• • •

Eric Fiske

34 Tampa Hillsborough Community College adjunct professor $20,000

• • •

Jessie Boyce

31 Seminole Tyrone Middle School sixth-grade teacher* $45,152

*Pinellas County’s 2018 outstanding educator.

• • •

Darlene Lebo

49 St. Petersburg St. Petersburg High School principal $102,586

• • •

Kathy Castor

51 Tampa U.S. representative, Florida’s 14th Congressional District $174,000

• • •

Tonjua Williams

54 St. Petersburg St. Petersburg College president $300,000

• • •

George Cretekos

71 Clearwater Clearwater mayor $26,795

• • •

Bill Horne

68 Clearwater Clearwater city manager $202,660

• • •

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Mike Grego

60 Palm Harbor Pinellas County Schools superintendent $282,093

• • •

Kurt Browning

59 Dade City Pasco County Schools superintendent $150,344

• • •

Donna Lusczynski

49 Tampa Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy $171,600

• • •

Paul Tash

63 St. Petersburg Chairman and CEO of Times Publishing Co. $484,516

• • •

Jeff Eakins

53 Brandon Hillsborough County Schools superintendent $225,000

• • •

Ken Atwater

66 Tampa Hillsborough Community College president $324,926

• • •

Derryl O’Neal

58 Madeira Beach Madeira Beach fire chief $97,346

• • •

James “Joc” C. O’Rourke

57 Orono, Minn., and a second home on Harbour Island in Tampa CEO of Mosaic $8.35 million*

*In base salary, stock options and other compensation.

• • •

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Ryan Yarbrough

26 St. Petersburg Tampa Bay Rays pitcher $545,000

• • •

Times senior news researcher Caryn Baird and staff writers Marc Topkin, Rick Stroud, Andrew Meacham, Colette Bancroft, Jay Cridlin, Christopher Spata, Jeffrey S. Solochek, Marlene Sokol, Craig Pittman, Tara McCarty, Jamal Thalji, Graham Brink and Amy Hollyfield contributed to this report.



Designed by: Nick Saffan