Editor's note: This is the first in a series of posts about state employee pay. Last week, we asked what you want to know about state pay — and you answered with a number of interesting suggestions. In the days and weeks ahead, we'll have reporters following up on as many of your questions as possible. A searchable database of the spreadsheet we received from the state comptroller appears at the bottom of this post.

Employees of the University of Massachusetts earn the most money among all state employees, according to 2013 state salary data released by the Massachusetts comptroller's office. Other public college presidents also topped the state salary list.

The data show that 313 state employees earned more than $200,000 a year in 2013 — and of those, 224 were affiliated with the University of Massachusetts.

Outside of education, police officers and medical professionals are among the highest earners in state government.

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The top earner on the state salary list was Michael Collins, the chancellor of UMass Medical School and senior vice president of health sciences, who earned $816,601 in 2013. The second-highest earner was Terence Flotte, dean of UMass Medical School who is also provost and executive deputy chancellor, who earned $730,187.

Mark Shelton, a spokesman for UMass Medical School, said the chancellor's compensation is set by the university president. The salaries of executive leadership, including Flotte, are set based on the salaries for similar jobs at comparable institutions. UMass Medical School aims to set its base salaries so employees fall between the 50th and 75th percentile in the market.

“The university sets salaries based on their view of what’s competitive and appropriate for the position and the person and the market,” Shelton said. “We do pay competitive salaries for an academic health science center. We do what we think is really important work, and we pay people appropriately for the good work they do.”

However, university officials point out that unlike many other public employees, UMass faculty are not primarily paid with taxpayer money.

At the medical school in particular, the salaries are not paid exclusively from public money. The state gave the medical school $41 million in 2013, less than 5 percent of the school’s total revenue of $939 million. The medical school also writes the state a check each year to cover the future costs of retiree health care and pension benefits for its employees.

“About 5 percent of non-research faculty salaries come from something associated with public payers. The rest is generated from other sources,” Shelton said.

Other top-paid UMass employees include head basketball coach Derek Kellogg ($719,663) and Derek Lovley, a professor of microbiology and associate dean of the College of Natural Resources and the Environment ($703,164).

Derek Lovley, a professor of microbiology and associate dean of the College of Natural Resources and the Environment at UMass Amherst, was the fourth-highest paid state employee in 2013, earning $703,164. (AP Photo/Nathan Martin)

Daniel Fitzgibbons, a spokesman for UMass Amherst, said 35 percent of Lovley’s salary comes from university funds and the rest comes from grant funding that he brings in as a researcher. In 19 years at the school, Lovley has brought in $67.5 million in research funding, Fitzgibbons said. “He’s one of the leading microbiologists anywhere right now,” Fitzgibbons said.

Asked about Kellogg’s salary, Fitzgibbons said, “Salaries in college athletics are market-driven, and UMass needs to pay competitive rates to attract high-quality coaches who can promote success for their programs.” He said UMass Amherst coaches, compared with other flagship campuses in NCAA Division I, rank at the lower end of the pay scale.

The Republican / MassLive.com previously reported that Kellogg's contract includes a mix of base pay and bonuses and will pay him between $665,000 and over $800,000 a season for two years.

Among other coaches, former UMass head football coach Charley Molnar earned $322,215 in 2013, although he was fired at the end of the year. Records show Molnar has received over $900,000 in pay in 2014, reflecting a buyout of the remaining three years of his contract that was originally estimated at $836,000.

UMass athletic director John McCutcheon earned $264,768. Normand Bazin, head coach for men’s ice hockey at UMass Lowell, earned $289,518.

In general, the university establishes salaries in relation to what people at comparable institutions are paid for doing comparable jobs, said Ann Scales, a spokeswoman for UMass. “We feel it's necessary that the salaries be competitive to attract and retain top faculty and staff,” Scales said. In fiscal year 2014, 19 percent of the university budget was state funded.

University and college presidents at all institutions earn high salaries. A recent report by Attorney General Martha Coakley found that presidents' salaries at five of the state's highest paying non-profit universities ranged from around $700,000 to more than $1 million a year.

The Massachusetts salary data named University of Massachusetts President Robert Caret as the fifth-highest paid public employee in 2013, earning $653,472. (Photo by Don Treeger / The Republican)

Among public universities, the state salary data named UMass President Robert Caret as the fifth-highest paid public employee in 2013, earning $653,472. UMass President Emeritus Jack Wilson, who remains a professor and has held a number of other campus roles, earned $266,422.

The presidents of Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Middlesex Community College, Mount Wachusett Community College, Salem State University and Massachusetts College of Art all earned around $250,000 a year, while a number of other college presidents earned slightly less than that. Ira Rubenzahl, president of Springfield Technical Community College, earned $206,560.

Outside of academics, Chief Medical Examiner Henry Nieds topped the state salary list, earning $260,943 last year.

The only other non-academics to earn more than $250,000 from the state were two police lieutenants: David Wilson ($259,293) and John O’Grady ($258,453). In total, around 50 state police officers — troopers, sergeants, lieutenants and others — cracked $200,000.

In most cases, their base salaries (according to 2014 rates) were between around $90,000 and $130,000. David Procopio, a state police spokesman, said the additional pay is mostly attributable to overtime and paid details.

Overtime is paid by the police department. In 2013, that would have included overtime related to the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, snowstorms and other events. Details are paid for by the company hiring the officers — whether a private construction company or a state agency such as the Department of Transportation.

Detail work in 2013 was paid at a rate of $40 an hour, based on a collective bargaining agreement. Police salaries are also boosted by the Quinn Bill, which raised police salaries for employees with advanced degrees by 10 to 25 percent. (The state cut its funding for the bill in 2010 and the bonus does not apply to the most recent class of police academy graduates.)

Also peppering the list of those earning over $200,000 a year are a number of medical professionals.

Linda Roedder, a nurse for the Department of Developmental Services who used to run nursing services at the Fernald Center, a state mental institution that has closed, earned $243,052 in 2013.

Several physicians at the Department of Public Health and psychiatrists at the Department of Mental Health earned around $230,000. Julie Kaviar, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said for both departments, the Massachusetts Nursing Association guides the salaries for those positions. A collective bargaining agreement dictates salary placement rules, which are reviewed and approved by Human Resources.

Searchable Database

Use the Department, Employee Name, or Job Title fields to begin your search. The database will return results for partial information in any field — for example, searching the Department field with the term "Transitional" will return all results for the Department of Transitional Assistance.

To see the entire database, leave all fields blank and click Search.

Once the database has returned your results (the browser may reload the page, so you'll need to scroll back down to the bottom of the article), use the drop-down menu at right to sort the data. For example, you can sort names alphabetically, or sort earnings from high to low.

Online Database

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