Mike Glenn will earn a base salary of $225,000 a year as the new Superintendent CEO of the $65 million-a-year Jefferson Healthcare.

The six-digit salary, approved Sept. 2 by Jefferson Healthcare commissioners, makes him the county’s highest paid public administrator.

“Wow, I’m envious,” quipped 58-year-old Port Townsend City Manager David Timmons, who earns $122,372 a year for managing a $30 million annual budget.

After taking in the number, Timmons said, “It would come as a shock in Jefferson County because there hasn’t been exposure in terms of turnover.”

Timmons referred to people like 48-year-old Glenn’s predecessor Vic Dirksen, now 65, who earned $140,000 a year after 33 years on the job. Dirksen declined pay raises offered by the public hospital’s board, saying he earned enough.

Hospital commissioners spent more than $80,000 in a nationwide search to find Glenn, who lives in Sequim and initially will commute to Port Townsend. During public meetings, commissioners defended the salary, saying they didn’t want to scrimp and end up not hiring the right person.

Other CEOs

While it’s one thing to compare Glenn’s base salary to that of other public officials in Jefferson County, hospital commissioners say he should be compared with his peer CEOs.

Glenn’s salary is comparable to that of CEOs of similar-sized hospitals with similar revenues, although higher than his predecessor at Olympic Medical Center (OMC) in Port Angeles.

Eric Lewis, 48, who succeeded Glenn at OMC, earns a base salary of $160,000 a year, according to hospital spokeswoman Rhonda Curry. Olympic has annual revenues of $128 million.

Across the water at Whidbey General Hospital, Superintendent/CEO Tom Tomasino, who oversees a district with $80 million in net revenues, earns a base salary of $230,000.

A Whidbey Hospital spokeswoman said CEO salaries should be compared with net revenues. When Tomasino was hired, the hospital looked at Island Hospital in Anacortes, which had revenues of $51 million and the CEO’s salary was $211,000, while Skagit Valley Hospital had revenue of $115 million and the CEO salary was set at $330,000, she said.

Some medical specialists employed by Jefferson Healthcare – employment that includes salary guarantees – may make more than $225,000 this year, according to the hospital.

A pay cut for Glenn

Still, high as it is by Jefferson County standards, Glenn’s new base salary is actually a pay cut for him. In his previous job as senior vice president of Valley Medical Center in Renton, he earned $220,000 a year and an additional bonus equal to of 32 percent his annual salary.

The combined total pushed his pay package to roughly $290,000, almost enough to pay the salaries of both Jefferson County judges, the highest-paid elected public officials in Jefferson County.

Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser earns $148,832 a year and District Court Judge Jill Landes’ salary is $141,710 a year.

In his new role, Glenn will oversee the county’s largest public budget of $65 million. And with some 550 employees, Jefferson Healthcare also is the largest employer in Jefferson County, topping even the Port Townsend Paper Corp., which has more than 300 employees.

Glenn is not set to receive a bonus from Jefferson Healthcare as he did in Renton, noted board chair Jill Buhler, whose title is chief governance officer. A 12-page contract between the hospital and Glenn allows for an incentive award if the board approves such a plan, which it hasn’t.

“It’s a $60 million-plus operation. If he makes it stronger, I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t consider an incentive bonus based on production,” said Buhler. “But at this point we’re not,” she added.

Buhler said Glenn has more experience as a CEO than Lewis. She added that he knows “we are in the top end of the range.”

There has been a wave of retirements of top officials in Jefferson County this year – from Dirksen to school superintendents Mike Blair of Chimacum and Tom Opstad of Port Townsend. Blair’s successor, Craig Downs, is earning $123,000 and Opstad’s interim successor, Gene Laes, is earning $96,000 a year, which is eight-tenths of a full-time position.

Jefferson County Administrator Phil Morley earns $116,699. Morley’s predecessor, John Fischbach, who parted ways with Jefferson County in early 2008, had been earning a base salary of $89,000. Fischbach took a job as administrator of Goodyear in Arizona for $168,000 a year. He’s still in Arizona, still earning that salary, as well as 10 percent for his retirement account and a $400 car allowance.

Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue Chief Ed Wilkerson earns $106,000 a year overseeing a $3 million budget. He recently let go his right hand, assistant chief Randy Coggan, who had earned $94,000 a year.

“I think to some degree, you get what you pay for,” said Wilkerson. “ Jefferson County is a tough market. It’s rural and in some respects economically depressed.”

“I don’t think it’s all about money, but I think it plays a role. When you are looking for top talent, there has to be that consideration,” said Wilkerson.

Still, like Timmons, Wilkerson said he doesn't think the economy is going to "depress the salaries” of the next generation of public officials who take the helm.

Elsewhere in Jefferson County, Port of Port Townsend Executive Director Larry Crockett earns a base salary of $110,000 a year. He started 11 years ago earning $54,000 a year, he said Tuesday. For 2011, Crockett has not asked for a cost-of-living increase.

Like other public officials who learned of Glenn’s salary, Crockett was surprised. “I’d take a pay cut to take $225,000,” he said.

Crockett said the port evaluated salaries paid by the port with similar sized ports in the region and found that his salary was $15,000 to $20,000 a year below that of other port executives.