Public safety dominates city’s six-figure earners

If you work for the City of Maricopa, congratulations. You’re probably doing very well for yourself. A list of the salaries for its 350 full-time employees in 2020 was provided by the city through a public records request. Government salaries are public information.

It shows 136 employees earn salaries of $70,000 or more annually, with 32 of those earning more than $100,000 and 11 earning more than $130,000.

The average salary for city employees was $67,042. Salaries ranged from a low of $27,546 (maintenance worker II) to a high of $198,568 (city manager). Mayor Christian Price is paid $33,600 annually and members of city council earn $20,500.

Seventy-one salaries were associated with the Maricopa Fire/Medical Department, including the fire chief, assistant fire chiefs, fire battalion/deputy chiefs, fire captains, fire marshal, fire engineers and firefighters, totaled $5.54 million. The salaries ranged from $50,482 for a probationary firefighter to $161,263 for the fire chief. The average salary in the department was $77,996.

Seventy-eight salaries were associated with the Maricopa Police Department, including the police chief, commanders, lieutenants, sergeants and officers, and totaled $5.78 million. Salaries ranged from $51,408 for a police recruit to $158,719 for the police chief. The average salary in the department was $74,101.

Top 32 salaries add up to nearly $4 million

Nineteen of the 32 city employees earning at least $100,000 work in the police and fire departments:

$198,568: Rick Horst, city manager
$161,263: Brady Leffler, fire chief
$158,719: James Hughes, police chief
$146,504: Jennifer Brown, assistant city manager
$138,016: Vanessa Bueras, city clerk
$135,243: Michael Campbell, police commander
$133,966: Jerome Schirmer, assistant fire chief
$133,250: Matthew Kozlowski, chief financial officer
$132,094: Nathan Ullyot, community services director
$131,265: Dale Wiebusch, intergovernmental affairs director
$130,036: John Storm, assistant fire chief
$128,244: Stephen Judd, police commander
$124,418: Maria Osgood, chief human resources officer
$123,477: Joshua Plumb, city engineer
$122,138: Robert Miller, fire battalion / deputy chief
$122,138: John Pantoja, fire battalion / deputy chief
$122,138: Kenneth Pantoja, fire battalion / deputy chief
$120,677: Brenda Hasler, financial services manager
$118,684: Brad Pitassi, assistant fire chief
$116,725: Michael Collins, chief information officer
$113,676: Sean Marchese, police lieutenant
$111,996: Kathleen Elliot, police lieutenant
$111,996: Timothy Miller, police lieutenant
$111,424: Jennifer Hagen, public safety communications manager
$111,211: Michael Riggs, public services director
$109,929: Nathan Steele, economic / community development director
$107,253: Angele Ozoemelam, financial services manager
$104,061: Hal Koozer, police sergeant
$104,061: Leonard Perez, police sergeant
$104,061: Elliot Sneezy, police sergeant
$104,061: Mary Turner, police sergeant
$103,729: Joshua Paulsen, police lieutenant

This item appears in the August issue of InMaricopa magazine.