SC is giving out pay increases — if you’re a state leader. Why agency heads get a raise

A few weeks after giving seven South Carolina agency heads 20% to 30% raises, a subcommittee of state commission met to consider others. The group reviewed 25 requests for increases and recommended approval for 22 of them Thursday, ranging from 3% to 22%.

Unlike the across the board raises state employees got this year, agency heads are reviewed for raises every few years. This started nearly 40 years ago, when the commission was created by the General Assembly in 1984. The board was created as a way to ensure not one person decided another’s salary and to have a more streamlined approach on why raises were given.

Commission members said agency head raises are based on a number of factors, including performance, tenure, expectations and comparisons to other agencies. The agency heads jobs require skills and experience that deserve high salaries, they add. The state examines its agency leaders’ salaries every five years, considering other factors including inflation and job market competitiveness to decide whether to increase pay — and by how much.

The subcommittee, includes members Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry and Rep. Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, will present the requests to the next full committee. The date has not been decided on.

Hembree said the full committee enacts or denies the recommended requests. He said a study by Korn Ferry, a consulting firm that specializes in optimal organization structures, according to their website, suggested many of the agency heads were due for raises because of inflation, but also increasing expectations.

Agency heads do not get the same increases —2.5% this year — that all other state employees receive in the five years in between these reviews.

“Some of the asks were very aggressive. Some of them were very reasonable and even kind of on the low end, a little bit. We’ve sort of looked at what they were asking for, where they were in their tenure for the agency, how long they’ve been there,” Hembree said.

The agency’s governing board of the agency asks the commission for its leader’s raise. For cabinet agencies, it’s the governors office.

Before the full committee meets, the higher education request subcommittee still has to meet. The agency commissions also do an evaluation process of the agency heads, which includes a yearly review where their performance measures and goals are sent for the coming year. At the end of the year, the commission reviews this.

Hembree said there have been times in agencies where the second or third in command has made more than their boss.

Some of the requests will be discussed during the full committee meeting, Hembree said, considering some requests that are “unusual,” or if the committee members had concerns about performance. Most of them, however, are raises that he felt good about, Hembree said.

“I think were pretty fair, fair to the employees and fair to the taxpayers at the same time,” Hembree said.

Hembree said there is a wisdom in having a body that reviews all of the agency heads salaries and job duties to ensure that the process is fair. The commission can get a sense of where the agencies and leaders are in their roles, the function they have in government and role. With the commission, they get to compare and contrast to ensure it is fair, he said.

The subcommittee Thursday recommended raises for 22 out of the 25 agency heads discussed. Here are some of the recommendations that were approved:

• The Forestry Commission agency head, Scott Phillips, was recommended for a 19.7% raise. His current salary is $140,291

• John De La Howe School agency head, Timothy Keown, was recommended for a 15.5% raise. His current salary is $131,560

• Higher Education Tuition Grants agency head, Katherine Harrison, was recommended for a 15.1% raise. Her current salary is $104,226

• School for the Deaf and Blind agency head, Jolene Madison, was recommended to a 22.9% raise. Her current salary is $130,181.

The following three received no recommendation or no increase:

• Department of Consumer Affairs agency head, Carolyn Lybarker, received no recommendation. Her current salary is $143,382.
  
  
• State Museum agency head, Amy Bartow Melia, received no recommendation. Her current salary is $164,534.
• Educational Television Comm agency head, Adrienne Fairwell, received a recommendation of no increase. Her current salary is $200,000.

This story was originally published September 4, 2024 at 10:22 AM.