Variety used the 2010 published U.S. Census numbers that counted all residents — regardless of legal status — to attain accurate comparisons with other localities except for one indicator: the total cost of government or TCG.
The TCG analysis was two-pronged: one by total residents and one by total citizens and, as expected, revealed two very different realities.
The commonwealth’s TCG was 66 percent more expensive when calculated on the citizen count and far surpassed Kauai and all states categories.
CNMI’s TGC dollar amount dropped dramatically when non-residents were included in the calculation.
One huge factor that determines the TCG is the salaries of government employees.
As a base, the 2,806 CNMI government workers equals 5.8 percent of the population, compared to the Federated States of Micronesia at 5.7 and the U.S. at 1.43 percent.
Comparatively speaking, the CNMI number revealed a bloated bureaucracy.
‘Best and brightest’
All judges, department secretaries and legislators earn salaries above $39,000; this compared with the $9,696 average yearly pay for a minimum wage worker.
One-step up, judges, the AG, DLNR Secretary and DPS commissioner all receive salary in excess of $70,000 a year, but the government would argue that these positions are demanding and stressful so executive pay is justified.
However, what if you were hired as the driver for a government executive…what salary could you then expect?
In this context, perhaps the best position in the entire bureaucracy could be Gov. Beningo Fitial’s chauffeur who collects $35,000 a year for his duties (paid by DPS).
In contrast, police officers and firefighters (grade I) are paid just $16,652 for their stress and physical danger; a full 53 percent less than the driver.
This disparity played out across the board when the number of government staff by salary range was computed: 70 percent make less than $30,000 a year.
Differences by department
Not only do vast inequities exist among government employee salaries but the individual departments themselves also vary when compared by average staff cost.
Again, the judiciary, governor and AG departments topped the list with a range of $33,000 to $47,000 cost per employee average due to executive salary levels in those offices.
The Legislature had the lowest average at just $11,747, although that figure distorts the real cost of Capital Hill as detailed yesterday in Part I of this series.
