Look up Sedgwick County KS employee salaries with this searchable database
Sedgwick County employed more than 3,800 people last year working in more than a dozen divisions that do everything from make decisions about how money is spent to fixing roads, answering 911 calls and running the local jail and zoo.
In all, the employees made more than $157.4 million in total compensation and logged more than six million paid and annual scheduled hours. Of that, more than 219,000 hours were overtime, which cost the county more than $6.8 million, according to an Eagle analysis of 2021 public payroll data obtained through an open records request. A Sedgwick County detention deputy with 19 years of service earned the most overtime pay last year: $96,909.80 for 2,317.75 overtime hours worked, the data shows. An emergency medical services team leader with 34 years on the job came in second with $72,530.37 in overtime pay for 1,455.75 overtime hours worked.
In all, more than half of the employees — about 55% — worked overtime, according to the data. Staffing issues in some departments contributed to the overtime amounts.
The county’s top earner last year, Rex Lear, made $273,728.78 in total compensation in his role as chief clinical director of Comcare, the county’s community mental health crisis center and substance abuse clinic.
Former Sedgwick County EMS and medical director John Gallagher, who was removed from his position last July following an Eagle investigation into his leadership and slow response times, came in second with $254,247.04 in total compensation, followed by Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center coroner and medical examiner Timothy Gorrill with $243,182.09.
Andrew Lauronilla and DeAnn Jenkins, both Comcare clinical directors, came in fourth and fifth, with $212,017.82 and $211,945.29 in total compensation, respectively.
Collectively, the county’s employees averaged around $40,500 in annual total compensation across all departments.
Sedgwick County is home to more than a half million people, covers around 1,000 square miles and includes the state’s largest city — Wichita — as well as several smaller communities and rural areas. In 2020, its median household income was $57,540 and the per capita income was $30,340, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The public salary information includes data such as total compensation, hourly wage, base pay, overtime hours logged and other wage-related facts for any county employee on the payroll last year, whether they were scheduled full- or part-time.
Total compensation includes base pay, overtime pay and other money earned. Hours paid include all types of hours for which an employee received compensation. For exempt employees — which includes positions such as commissioner, district attorney, sheriff, treasurer and register of deeds — the county provided the number of annual scheduled hours.
See the highest-paid employees in each division here.
