A tradesman earned $100,000 in overtime last year. Some professors made more than chancellors. And millionaire coaches made more than everyone.
Those are among the eye-catching entries in the latest University of Wisconsin System salary data, which USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin obtained and converted into an online database readers can search and sort by pay, campus and employee name.
The recently released 2017-2018 compensation gives Wisconsin taxpayers a look behind the scenes at who makes what, and it provides context for the UW System Board of Regents’ recent request for a 6 percent pay raise across the board over the next two years.
Pay increases averaged less than 1 percent in total across the UW System from 2011 to 2019 amid tightening budgets, dropping the state’s public universities even further behind comparable universities around the country, officials said. The state Legislature must still approve the regents’ request, which seeks state money to cover the increases.
Meanwhile, salary data for more than 35,000 employees across the state lays out the impact of some of the budgetary crunches facing the UW System.