Question 1: How much did the payroll increase?

 

The state payroll increased from $4.5 billion to $5.1 billion. That’s for all 70,000 state employees, not including universities. 

 

We’ve been tracking the payroll since 2017 and we’ve never seen an increase that large in a single year. It’s an increase of 13%. Inflation last year was only 3%.

 

The increase is partially because there’s 1,500 new people on the payroll. And partially because pay raises increased the average salary from $65,000 to $72,500.

 

Question 2: Who’s making the most money?

 

There are 1,113 people that made more than Gov. Moore ($194,000).

 

Some of them are top officials in the transportation department or court judges. But many are just ordinary employees taking home big overtime checks. There were 343 people last year that made $100,000 or more in overtime.

 

But no one makes more than the health department - 73 employees made more than the president of the United States last year ($400,000) with the top doctor taking home $573,000. That was Min Yu, who in 2023 made $545,000. So a raise of 5%, which is a high dollar amount when you’re making that kind of money.

 

Dept. of Health $851 million payroll

Dept. of Transportation $650 million

 

 

Question 3: What are other states spending on payroll?

 

Other states with similar populations. 

 

Minnesota: $4.6 billion for 65,000 employees

Missouri: $2.8 billion for 60,000

 

Both have lower averages than Maryland, but not by a large amount, especially when considering the cost of living difference. So Maryland’s payroll might be high but it’s not too far off from similarly-sized states.