State employee salaries ‘grossly mischaracterized’ as bilking taxpayers

Salaries of select state agency employees were grossly mischaracterized in “Overpaid NC public workers are bilking taxpayers of millions” (June 14).

The authors apparently used the N&O’s database of state employee salaries to sort workers classified as “research assistants” to conclude that many “with a couple of years of experience” earn $50,000 or more annually.

What they failed to point out is that half of those research assistants are top law school graduates who clerk for state Supreme Court Justices and Court of Appeals judges, plus serve as Trial Court Research Assistants. The U.S Labor Department standard cited for comparison is for Social Science Research Assistants, not attorneys.

Using the same N&O database, you find that most state agency employees who share the same job name are paid closer to the mean annual wage of $41,020 for Durham-Chapel Hill.

Additionally, the authors criticized Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, for earning $192,500. Cohen is a medical doctor with extensive state and federal experience who runs three state hospitals and manages more than 15,700 employees in a vast scope of health- related jobs. It would be a hard sell to persuade a private-sector executive to take on the mission of improving the health, safety and well-being of all North Carolinians at that rate.

The reality is that state employees fulfill a wide variety of jobs on behalf of the people of North Carolina, with many of them choosing public service when they could earn more in the private sector.

No ‘healthy start’

I am an undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. I married my wife this spring, and recently found out that we are now expecting a child. I could not be more excited.

To ensure that my new family has a healthy start I wanted to make sure that our health insurance was in order, and to keep up with notifying them of these graced life changes.

Well, I found out that the student health insurance at my school does not allow dependents or spouses to be covered (an internal policy choice here at UNC, effective 2015). To my dismay, I was also told that my wife’s insurance through the ACA Marketplace would increase to a cost of $430 a month, with the cheapest option (and worst coverage) being $150 a month, because being a family of two changed our required income level.

Furthermore, North Carolina did not expand Medicaid, and the General Assembly (especially the Senate and Committee Chair Ralph Hise), continues to refuse to consider it.

So, because my wife and I have been blessed by God with love and a family, my wife and child will lose their chance to have a healthy start.

Increase aid

Regarding “Trump orders end to family separation policy” (June 21): This week the country has faced a major humanitarian crisis from the President’s policy to separate families and prosecute every undocumented migrant that crosses the border. Reportedly the administration sought to discourage undocumented immigration by increasing the penalties for it, but ultimately failed to do so.

Tougher penalties and stricter roadblocks to immigration will not stop the flow of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from attempting to enter the United States. If the United States wants to decrease immigration, we must work hard to help countries improve the socioeconomic conditions that are in them.

The U.S. should increase its foreign aid and investments in the developing world to improve their incomes and eliminate extreme poverty conditions. Eliminating poverty will greatly decrease the push forces that drive people to immigrate. Further, creating economic opportunities for people will decrease the incentives to join gangs or resort to violence.

The U.S. should also do more to coordinate with other governments to help them develop solutions for their political, criminal, and social problems. The U.S. already has extensive law enforcement agreements with many Latin American countries, so there is precedent for political cooperation to solve these issues.

This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 11:04 AM with the headline "State employee salaries ‘grossly mischaracterized’ as bilking taxpayers."