Your tax dollars at work

How much Senate, House staff are paid

Posted 11/8/20

By RICK BRUNDRETT

Special to the Chronicle

Our state lawmakers have plenty of money for their needs.

The House started this fiscal year July 1 with a $23.7 million general-fund …

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Your tax dollars at work

How much Senate, House staff are paid

Posted

By RICK BRUNDRETT

Special to the Chronicle

Our state lawmakers have plenty of money for their needs.

The House started this fiscal year July 1 with a $23.7 million general-fund surplus.

That's nearly $1 million more than its entire budget.

The Senate had $5.8 million in general fund reserves, state comptroller general records show.

15 SC Senate staffers received pay hikes of up to nearly 34%. 

Top paid is Senate Clerk Jeff Gossett who manages a $16.3 million budget.

He makes $225,000 annually, an increase of $14,864, or 7%.

Pay hikes for 14 others making at least $50,000 a year ranged from 5.4% to 33.6%.

73 employees earn at least $50,000 yearly.

They include 23 with annual salaries of at least $100,000.

In comparison, 78 House staffers make at least $50,000 yearly.

House Clerk Charles Reid is the top-paid employee at $212,250.

Reid manages the 124-member House with a $22.7 million annual budget.

Neither the Senate nor the House provide information to the state salary data base.

Tthe 10 top paid Senate staffers with pay hikes in parentheses:

  • Jeff Gossett, clerk, $225,000 (7.07%);
  • Michael Shealy, budget director: $176,181;
  • Ken Moffitt, assistant clerk: $175,000 (11.9%);
  • John Hazzard: counsel to Senate president: $169,646;
  • Andy Fiffick, chief of staff, Judiciary Committee: $150,000 (8.93%);
  • Heather Anderson, staff attorney: $150,000 (33.69%);
  • Angie Willis, assistant research director, Finance Committee: $143,056;
  • Martha Casto, chief of staff, Senate president: $127,500;
  • Grant Gibson: assistant research director, Finance Committee: $125,609;
  • Sara Parrish, counsel to the clerk: $125,000 (11.41%)

The 10 top paid House staffers:

  • Charles Reid, clerk: $212,250;
  • Patrick Dennis: personnel director, chief of staff: $212,000;
  • Daniel Boan, chief of staff, Ways and Means Committee: $166,200;
  • Emma Dean, chief counsel, Judiciary Committee: $154,000;
  • Steven Davidson, chief legal counsel, Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee: $151,000;
  • Pierce McNair, research director, Education Committee: $149,000;
  • Donald Hottel, assistant clerk in charge, House research: $145,500;
  • Jennifer Dobson, research director, Legislative Oversight Committee: $128,000;
  • Kate Turner, budget director/counsel, Ways and Means Committee: $128,000;
  • Mitchell Dorman, sergeant-at-arms: $115,000

Brundrett is the news editor of The Nerve. Contact him at 803-254-4411 or rick@thenerve.org.

sc senate, House, pay, raises

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