Kentucky's chief information officer was recently given a $215,000 raise.

Charles Grindle's pay increase boosted his annual salary to $375,000.

The pay raise surprised even Republicans who helped lift the cap on the position's salary.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Chief Information Officer Charles E. Grindle is the highest-paid state CIO in the nation, according to the most recent 50-state salary survey by the Council of State Governments.

The second-place finisher isn't even close.

Grindle, a retired Army officer who took the job less than a year ago, makes $375,000 per year, thanks to a whopping $215,000 raise granted by Gov. Matt Bevin on Aug. 1.

The most recent salary survey compiled by the Lexington-based Council of State Governments shows Grindle easily outpaces Oregon's CIO, whose $210,989 salary was the largest for state IT administrators as of Jan. 1, 2017.

Many Democrats in the General Assembly say they were stunned last week when they read a Courier Journal report on the massive raise that more than doubled Grindle's $160,000 starting salary.

“I can’t believe there’s any way to justify that salary ...” said State Rep. Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort. “I recognize how important technology is to state government, and salaries for people with that kind of expertise are high. But salaries for those kind of jobs in government still need to be reasonable. There’s an element of public service, a little sacrifice, when you are working for the people.”

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State Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, said, "I think it's outrageous. ... And I've seen little or no apparent justification or transparency to this. ... When you are talking that kind of money for the highest-paid employee in state government, that's something we're entitled to know. Not just entitled to know, it's something they should want to tell us."

Senate Minority Leader Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, said, "It's alarming. It raises a lot of questions — about the justification for the high salary and the size of that raise."

Even the Republican who last spring handled the governor's last-minute request for a budget amendment that lifted a salary cap on the CIO job said he was surprised by the raise.

“I’ve got have be honest with you, it’s probably higher than we would have anticipated,” said Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Taylor Mill Republican who heads the Senate budget committee. He said he expected Bevin to set the salary at about $250,000, which is what Kentucky pays its top two economic development officials.

Neither Bevin nor Grindle have responded to numerous requests for comment, including a question sent via email on Tuesday to Bevin's office. Nor has his Finance and Administration Cabinet responded to an email asking if the job was advertised to the public or if a candidate search was done before Grindle was hired last October.

The Finance and Administration Cabinet last week released a statement saying Grindle’s raise “was necessary to recruit and retain the best talent for this position, as CIOs are in high demand in the private sector.”

That statement said cost savings already realized by Grindle's leadership “have paid for this salary increase many times over... The Commonwealth saw $2.9 million in immediate cost reductions created by managing consulting contracts and video conferencing. His plan for a new converged server and storage infrastructure will create an estimated $3 million in annual savings.”

But $375,000 is extraordinarily high pay, according to the Council of State Government's 2017 survey of salaries of 51 administrative jobs common to most states.

According to the survey and Courier Journal research:

The median salary for state information systems administrators was $153,326, which was earned by the CIO in Wyoming. Missouri came in last at $99,000.

Even with recent raises, Indiana pays its CIO, Dewand Neely, $131,402, while Tennessee CIO Mark Bengel makes $200,112, according to their respective state websites.

While pay for top education and university officials in some states often exceeds Grindle's $375,000, his annual salary is more than the nation's highest-paid state employees in 49 different job categories surveyed.

Grindle makes more than the $340,000 Virginia paid the head of its economic development agency in 2017; more than the $250,656 California paid its top corrections official; more than the $299,000 Texas paid its top transportation official; and more than the $283,500 Hawaii paid its top tourism official.

Grindle's predecessor, James Fowler, was making $139,244 when he left the job in December 2015, according to the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet. The job was filled by an acting CIO for 22 months until Grindle was hired last October.

Kentucky universities tend to pay better than the state administration, but not in this instance. The University of Kentucky says it pays its CIO, Brian Nichols, $294,807. At the University of Louisville, former state CIO Fowler was paid $175,000. He stepped down last week, and the university has announced a search for a new CIO.

Grindle's base compensation would be considered high even in the private sector, according to a guide recently published by Robert Half International, a California-based human resources firm. That guide lists a national base range for CIOs at $171,750 to $293,000, plus bonuses and benefits.

But CIO.com, an online technology publication, last year reported that, “Salary is just the beginning. Cash bonuses and equity awards can propel pay packages into the millions." Total compensation for CIOs at 25 Fortune 500 companies ranged from $1 million to $9.7 million per year, CIO.com reported.

When Grindle's hiring was announced late last year, the Bevin administration noted the retired Army colonel's 29 years of military service as an information technology and field artillery officer.

Grindle holds master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Science and a master’s degree from the U.S. Army War College. His experience includes serving as lead information technology officer for the U.S. 3rd Army in Kuwait and CIO for the United States Military Academy. His many decorations include the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

The Council of Government's survey includes only administrative jobs commonly seen in most states, such as governor, state police commissioner and revenue commissioner. It does not include university presidents, coaches, doctors or pension fund investment managers, jobs that often pay far more than other categories of public employees.

Because specific duties and titles of chief information officers vary, the council asked for the salary of the state official who “provides statewide computer services or coordinates the operation of various data process systems within state government.”

The council said states identified officials with titles such as information systems administrator or director, director of technology, chief information officer, agency director and executive director of the office of technology.

A spokeswoman for the organization said the 2018 survey is still being compiled.

Kentucky ranks 26th among the states in population but 46th in median household income at $46,655, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers for 2016, the most recent year available. The national median household income was $59,039 in 2016.

Tom Loftus: tloftus@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @TomLoftus_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/toml.