Fringe benefits and automatic annual raises have a way of adding up.

The Greenville News obtained a copy of Greenville County Administrator Joe Kernell's contract in a Freedom of Information request and compared it to state compensation reports and contracts for his counterparts in Spartanburg and Charleston counties.

The takeaway: Kernell has the most generous deal in the state by far. His salary plus vacation and retirement benefits place his compensation near $363,000 a year — and that's not including the full cost of health and dental coverage the county covers. Nor does it include his county SUV, which comes with insurance and maintenance paid for.

The administrator in Spartanburg County can get a mileage reimbursement; the Charleston County administrator gets a $900 monthly car allowance. Both pay for their own insurance. They also get the same health insurance deal as their employees.

And unlike the councils in Spartanburg and Charleston counties, Greenville County Council members never voted on their administrator's contract or compensation.

Kernell has been with Greenville County for 15 years. He started in January 2004 and was paid between $120,000 and $130,000 at the time, according to reports.

In late 2011, the Greenville County Council authorized Chairman Butch Kirven and then vice chairman Bob Taylor to negotiate a new contract with Kernell. Below is a summary of that deal and how it has grown over the years.

Show me the money: $1,080 a day

Under the new contract, Kernell's salary as of December 2011 jumped to $216,250, 6.1 percent higher than his previous salary. The contract authorized another raise in February 2012, bringing his salary to $229,225.

Both raises — totaling more than $25,000 — occurred during a fiscal year when all other county salaries were frozen.

Under terms of his 2011 contract, Kernell's annual raises match those earned by the average county employee. He has earned raises of 2 to 3 percent a year ever since.

By July 2013, Kernell's pay had grown to $248,000 — roughly double the amount he was hired for 10 years earlier.

At his current salary (about $280,600), Kernell earns $1,080 a day. That's just under what a person on minimum wage earns in a month.

Taxpayers also pay an amount equal to 10 percent of his salary into a retirement account of his choosing every year. This is in addition to the retirement plan offered to all employees.

Administrators in Spartanburg and Charleston counties earn $160,000 and $206,710 respectively, and they participate in the same retirement plan as their employees.

Vacay: 7 weeks right out of the gate

When Kernell started with the county in 2004 at age 44, he was given the same amount of vacation time as a 25-year employee (25 days) plus an additional 13, giving him 38 paid days off a year. His 2011 renegotiated contract kept that arrangement in place.

Paid days off for the administrators in Spartanburg and Charleston counties match the years they've worked there.

Under his 2011 contract, Kernell can bank up to 66.67 unused vacation days and can cash in unused days at whatever his current salary rate is.

The value of 66.67 vacation days is about $72,000.

Kernell was also granted 12 sick days a year under his 2004 and 2011 contracts. He banks any unused sick days with no cap.

The never-ending contract

Kernell's current contract was good through January 2017 but auto-renews annually.

A review of contracts from Spartanburg and Charleston counties has no such auto-renewal.

The effect of an auto-renewal is that Kernell's contract cannot be altered or ended without the council "terminating" him, triggering a buyout clause.

The buyout clause requires the county pay a lump sum of one year's salary and a payout on his unused vacation and sick days. Depending on how many sick and vacation days he's banked, this could be a lump sum of $280,600 or up to $547,000.

The buyout also requires the county cover his health insurance premiums for a year.

The Charleston County administrator would get half a year's salary if she were fired without cause; the administrator in Spartanburg would get paid for any unused days off and continue receiving his regular paycheck and health insurance until he gets another comparable job.

More:Greenville Co. administrator's pay jumped $25K when county salaries otherwise frozen