Salaries

Hollywood, once again, is in a panic over star salaries.In June, Columbia Pictures shelled out an unprecedented $20 million to Jim Carrey to star in "Cable Guy," and Universal Pictures later made a $20-million deal for the comedian to star in "Liar, Liar."Not to be outdone, Sylvester Stallone signed a three-picture deal with Universal for $60 million -- after he already had received a $20-million film deal from Savoy Pictures.But the deal that really raised eyebrows throughout the film industry occurred last week, when 18-year-old Alicia Silverstone, who stars in the teen comedy "Clueless," signed a two-picture pact with Columbia that was reported in the trades to bring her as much as $10 million.

Hampstead Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to raise the salaries of future mayors and council members, to take effect after next year's election.The mayor's salary will increase to $4,800 from $1,000 a year, and council members' pay will increase from $500 to $2,400.No one spoke at a public hearing on the proposal before the vote.The current town salaries are in the lower range for Maryland municipalities, said Town Manager Neil Ridgely, who introduced the proposed pay raises.

We've been told for years that everything, from the sky to cattle to the size of the boast, is bigger in Texas. To that list, we can apparently add the amount that its school districts pay their football coaches. Actually, "big" hardly does justice to the salaries football coaches receive deep in the heart of Texas, with some earning more than $100,000 annually and in one case nearly $91,500 per victory. A Dallas Morning News survey of 37 school districts in Texas showed that the average salary paid to 95 coaches in the area for the current school year is $82,179.

Capping an already successful season that included the arrival of popular new music director Yuri Temirkanov, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's board of directors approved a new five-year contract with its musicians yesterdaymorning, four months before the current contract expires. The contract, ratified by musicians Thursday night, includes gradual salary increases from the present base weekly pay of $1,250 to $1,715 by 2005, plus changes to the players' pension plan. "A lot of people have been working to establish a collaborative dialogue with our board and management that we never had before," said violist Jeffrey Stewart, chairman of the musicians' negotiating committee.

In an era when our media and even our education system exalt emotions while ignoring facts and logic, perhaps we should not be surprised that so many people explain economics by "greed." Today, there are adults - including educated adults - who explain multimillion-dollar corporate executives' salaries as resulting from "greed." Think about it: I could become so greedy that I wanted a fortune twice the size of Bill Gates' - but this greed would not increase my income by one cent. If you want to explain why some people have astronomical incomes, it cannot be simply because of their desires - whether "greedy" or not - but because of what other people are willing to pay them.

Women in the communications industry said yesterday they were pleased to see the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission raising the issue of salary discrimination against women by filing suit on behalf of former anchorwoman Rudy Miller.But they added that the anchor desk was one place where women sometimes made more money than men in the TV news industry. They also said that the formula for arriving at anchor salaries could be a complicated one tied to audience research and ratings rather than gender.

Salaries of Manchester officials are significantly lower than those in Carroll towns of similar size, but Mayor Earl A.J. "Tim" Warehime Jr. said Sunday he thinks the gap will be narrowed during the coming budget process."

Some Manchester town employees soon will be paying $67 a week out-of-pocket for family health insurance, said Steven Miller, the town's water and sewer superintendent, at a Town Council budget work session Tuesday night."

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has withdrawn his campaign promise to cut the salaries of highly paid federal employees after Maryland Rep. Steny H. Hoyer introduced legislation to reinstate the cuts.Mr. Bush changed his mind "for fairness' sake," according to a senior administration official quoted last week by the Washington Post.As lawmakers prepared last week to vote on the legislation, the White House sent a letter to Mr. Hoyer, D-5th, saying it will not impose pay cuts without Congress' approval.

*Marilyn Czellecz, 48, of Jessup, secretary:Yes, if you have thesame jobs, your salaries should be the same or at least competitive.It shouldn't matter whom you work for. Most of the time, however, this isn't the case. The people who perform the most needed jobs -- like social workers and teachers -- have to make financial compromises in order to find a career that is fulfilling to them. Society will have to change its rules first.