Salaries

The budget cuts in the General Assembly in the past year have had a long reach, with hundreds of millions in reductions to planned state spending on everything from education to public libraries. One area where the ax didn't fall? The salaries of legislators, which range from $43,500 a year to $56,500, for a 90-day session. Annapolis lawmakers had good reason for not cutting their salaries during the special legislative session in November, when they raised taxes by $1.3 billion. It's against the law. But Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire, an Anne Arundel County Republican, believes the system for determining legislators' pay - which was designed to largely remove the politically tricky decision from legislators' hands - is due for a change.

IT'S EASY to generate outrage about salaries of corporate executives escalating beyond reason. It's harder to arouse the public about absurdities at the other end of the executive salary spectrum. Who cares if a political leader is underpaid?That's the dilemma in places like Harford County, where a proposal has limped along for months to increase the salary of the executive from $65,000 to $91,000.The status quo there is ludicrous -- as it was in Baltimore before the mayor won a raise last year.

By including salary increases for 15 appointed officials in his proposed $1.36 billion budget, Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III has gotten two things he did not want: public criticism and topsy-turvy pay scales.Criticism of the raises -- which boosted the salaries of several department heads by 10.7 percent while many government employees received no raise -- came from Democrats and Republicans during a County Council budget debate last week.The council sets salaries for the executive and administrative officer and has authority to cut the budget request, but it has no direct control over the salaries of department heads and other top appointed officials, whose raises total $77,430.

County teachers and other school employees are staying calm about the fate of their salary increases -- for now.Christine Haggett, president of the Harford County Education Association, said the 1,500 union members are taking a "wait and see" attitude about county executive Eileen M. Rehrmann's call for a universal freeze on county employees' salaries.The Board of Education is following suit.They say they'll hold off on commenting about whether they support freezing 1991 school employee salaries until April 1.That's when the county executive is expected to release fiscal year 1991-1992 budget figures.

The explanation is so simple, few people give it a second thought: Big-league teams such as the Orioles are payingmillions more for their players, and must, therefore, charge millions more for tickets.Not so fast. Economists who study sports say the linkage between ticket prices and player salaries is one of the most misunderstood elements of the game, up there with the infield fly rule.Most fans have it backward: Increased ticket prices probably drive up salaries more than increased salaries drive up ticket prices, say experts.

Baltimore County's school board and superintendent have agreed to implement a salary scale for principals, their union's No. 1 contract demand. The decision means the principals, organized as the Council of Administrative and Supervisory Employees, will drop their request for a declaration of an impasse in negotiations with the board and superintendent. In September, the union had asked state Schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick to declare the impasse after it had been without a contract since June 30. "We may still ask for some fine-tuning of the scale, but we're just thrilled to get one," said Carol T. Shaner, the executive director of the union.

Power tool maker Black & Decker Corp. is cutting salaries and suspending 401(k) matches for U.S. employees in response to the global recession and declining revenues, the company said yesterday. Starting with the first pay period in April, the Towson company said base salaries of top executives will be cut by 10 percent, salaried employees by 5 percent, and salaried workers who qualify for overtime by 2.5 percent. Black & Decker Chief Executive Officer Nolan D. Archibald, who made $11.1 million in total compensation in 2007, will likely take a $150,000 cut from his $1.5 million base salary.

Salaries, workload and equity among school employees are top issues the Howard County Education Association will bring to the bargaining table when contract negotiations for teachers and support staff begin this winter. Three-year contracts for both groups expire June 30 - one representing about 4,000 certificated teachers, guidance counselors and psychologists; the other representing 1,600 employees, mostly instructional assistants. In May, the association sent a form to its members seeking input for the negotiations.

A tight labor market has prompted Taneytown officials to propose a hefty 6 percent pay increase for all 30 full- and part-time town employees in next year's budget. "It's an employee's market," said Taneytown Mayor Henry C. Heine Jr. Finding and keeping good workers is so difficult, the mayor said, that city officials had decided to raise the salaries for new employees. It didn't seem fair, they said, not to also raise the salaries of those on the payroll, Heine said. The city will raise salaries without raising the tax rate, however, because growth and alternative sources of funds are helping city coffers grow, said City Manager Charles P. "Chip" Boyles Jr. Like other Carroll towns, Taneytown has had trouble hiring and keeping police officers, although the 10-person force is fully staffed now. But a search for a certified wastewater treatment plant operator has taken about a year, Boyles said, and the city has two such positions open.

Hard as it is to believe, Cal Ripken really might be worth $10 million a year.At first glance, the pay scales of baseball, which topped out this year with Ryne Sandberg's $7 million contract, seem out of control, an escalating spiral that keeps ticket costs rising.But specialists who study baseball finances say the skyrocketing salaries are grounded in solid economics. Teams such as the Chicago Cubs can and do pay Sandberg's tab because the second baseman is bringing in that much revenue and more, they say.And there is every reason to think the salaries -- which now average $1.08 million a year -- will continue to rise.