In the spirit of transparency, Kenosha County Eye requested salary information from the following government agencies in late 2024:
Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD)
City of Kenosha
County of Kenosha
Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office
Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office
Village of Paddock Lake
Village of Pleasant Prairie
Village of Twin Lakes
Village of Salem Lakes
Village of Somers
Town of Randall
Town of Wheatland
Westosha Central High School
Trevor-Wilmot School District
Twin Lakes School District
Wilmot Union High School
Riverview Salem Silver Lakes Silver Lakes School District
UW Parkside
Gateway Techincal College
Circuit Court Judges are not included in this list, but make $174,512.
Below is a database I created for searching and sorting salaries. You can also click here for a full-page version.
Jurisdictions that are missing from this tool will be added in the coming days and weeks.
Kenosha County Salaries
| First Name | Last Name | Jurisdiction | Department | Position | Hourly | Annual | Notes |
|---|
112 Responses
So to confirm- the “long standing detective “ on full paid leave for several months is making $44.34 per hour sitting at home, not allowed to enter the police station.
Don’t get too deep with your question…. Mathewson will delete it if his handlers tell him to.
Which detective?
Ask Kevin. He knows but can’t report yet until he’s told he can.
Dude, you have to get over this. I ran a story when the police officer was placed on leave. If and when he receives discipline you will read about it first here. Did the Kenosha news write anything about this? I am covering it but he deserves due process. What makes you think I’m afraid to write about a cop being disciplined?
Same reason you deleted a bit about that useless dog Iris.
What are you talking about?
Dude you dig and dish on all kinds of teachers and staff well before anything happens to them. Why the special treatment here.
Except he wrote an article about it …
The one who is already in the DA do not call to testify list
Kevin, thank you real eye opener!!!
Someone explain to me how does the HR director for the county make more than the county executive. And why is she the highest paid employee within the county?
She’s also by far the worst employee— she is singlehandedly responsible for crushing morale & sending turnover rates through the roof. She’s tripled her department from what her predecessor had, and their efficiency and productivity has TANKED.
Everyone thought she would be the one to go when the board gave Sam the ability to replace people at her level… and yet she remains.
Fukkn wild.
Wow, GTC salaries are out of control!!
Did you notice how many share the same last name, and how many are tied into the powers that run things? And many, many, many B.S. jobs.
The is nepotism and cronyism in government is rampant. Your actual skill at doing the job you’re hired for is secondary to who you know and it applies to both getting hired and promotions.
KUSD CFO $100,000
GTC CFO $180,000
Why is Gateway’s pay so much higher. Makes me sick what Gateway employees make. They also grossly overstaffed.
If you are “of color” you make more at Gateway, even if you are incompetent and other people have to fix all your messes.
I’m “of color” and willing to bet more educated and competent. You clearly are spewing out your ignorance and poor me thinking because you are unhappy with your own place in life. This mentality you have is why so many poor white people were easily manipulated to hating people of color and leading to the whole Jim crow/white supremacy in the first place.
LOL 🤣
Kevin … Excellent work .You never disappoint me ..
Thanks Brother
I’d like to see what the airport staff costs us annually. And I say “costs” because it’s a loss. 10 people (maybe) that are Kenosha city residents have an airplane there. We subsidize Steiner aviation, and a bunch of Illinois people.
KUSD food service, custodians and special education are paid horribly! No wonder the turn over is terrible and they are severely understaffed.
All of the money seems to go to the ESC instead of the real workers
Exactly.
So, City Administrator John Morrissey is paid $104.12 per hour.
Not bad for only having a high school diploma.
He claims to have a Bachelor’s degree. But KCE published an article describing that degree as fake.
And to think that no one on the city council gives a shit. No wonder this city is so corrupt.
Over $200,000 for being a liar and fake not bad, for being a phony!!!
We do not need both a city administrator and a mayor!!! That position was created many years ago. It’s ridiculous. Bring in DOGE…LOL
I want a “job” with the city. I’m good at sitting around and doing nothing.
Apply. There are many
Check out the city administrator.
The village of Pleasant Prairie administrator.
The gateway salaries.
Wow.
The Pleasant Prairie village administrator probably has a Real college degree, maybe even a Masters. All of us in Kenosha are stuck with a city administrator who makes a ton of money with a fake college degree.
And the mayor and city council are ok with that?
The leadership in Unpleasant Prairie is run thru village board (Steinbrink, Polloncoff and Dave Klimisch, the village administrator is only a figure head with NO power look what they did to last village administrator they bought him off with buyout that he has to keep silent on village affairs.
Steinbrink Jr had an employee do his engineering degree test for him. We paid him as though he really has one. JR owes us big time! He’s got it made with the little bit of “time” he has to serve ( if THATS what you want to call it when you get to leave all day from the jail and still completely run your business). He only had to pay 30,000, but that’s nothing compared to the harm he caused for the families by firing them if they didn’t do the unethical or illegal things he wanted them to do and how much he stole from the tax payers in Pleasant Prairie!!
I hope all of you Pleasant Praire people are tired of all the crap from the Village Administration and you vote for Eric Meadows for President! We need a new turn in our town just like Salem did!
all the people who used to be johns yes-men are now in charge, and doing a horrible job. look at the roads, prairie used to have the cleanest plowed roads around. now they come out the day after to plow
Yeah at an astronomical cost. You don’t need roads that clean. If so move south, this is Wisconsin
Lots of over paid people in the list
Thanks for posting this compiling this information. This should be done more often. This probably does not reflect the reasons they got this year in 2025.
Some people are paid too much. While others aren’t paid enough!
Hope everyone reading this finally realizes teachers are far from under paid.
Hourly wage isn’t accurate for most of those. KUSD base it on a 10 month paid salary, because they don’t accumulate vacation days like most employers. Their paid days off are pre determined.
These are the exact numbers provided to us by each jurisdiction including KUSD.
Not true for all teachers. What blows my mind is that there are some teachers making 20k more than teachers that have been teaching for 20+ years. And there are some teachers getting paid almost 6 figures, and they are nothing special.
Salary structure for teachers is also public record. Degrees and years = more money just like most office jobs.
If a teacher gets a Masters degree as well as another 30 graduate credits they move up in pay which is only right for continuing their education at that level.
VOTE NO FOR KUSD REFERENDUM. Too top heavy at the ESC and they are asking for money. I don’t think so…why do we have so many people making 100k+ in salaries???
100k isn’t that much money. For a group that complained about inflation for the last 4 years I think you would get that at this point.
When was this list given? Seems to be missing new city employees.
4th Quarter 2024
Why isn’t Bristol school listed?
The remaining jurisdictions will be added soon.
Hold on a minute….the twin lakes police chief is making 100k a year and the village bought her a brand new jeep for a personal vehicle?? Does a small town pd chief really NEED that on that salary? I saw the fire department was looking for more money for staffing? Just wow…I support the cops but that seems a bit ridiculous for a small town…anywhere
Over worked, under paid…. Can’t really use that story for much longer. Teachers who make 30k more than I do, and “only work” 10 months of the year. I don’t have 2 months PTO, or a swanky benefits package. GTFO…. Vote no
That’s right. Instead of fixing bring everybody down. The goal is slavery while not using the word slavery. You are such a tool.
Right the I made poor career choices so instead of improving my situation I’ll advocate for all around misery. Great ideals
a teacher makes 30k more than you? what do you do, sell fridges to eskimos?
We need a KCOGE…Kenosha County Office of Government Efficiency. Anytime the government is involved, there’s bound to be overspending & inefficiency.
Yes, they can started with Gateway. Too many overpaid & grossy overstaffed.
Every year there is an employee learning day which wastes taxpayers money so they can learn swing dance & other ridiculous things that don’t help with jobs.
Each department has retreats, more waste of taxpayers money.
No one wants to go to those events either, it’s just so one person has a job coordinating it.
Don’t forget learning how to plant cacti. They refuse to use this day for anything beneficial for the students or instructors. It would be AN EXCELLENT day to teach them how to use the equipment in the classrooms instead of just giving instructors a fob to enter the room and saying “Ok go!”. The equipment isn’t the same in all rooms and to someone whose never used a projector system, microphone, document camera, it can be a little tricky. Especially when you’re tasked with instructing students both in class and online at the same time. Do we spend Employee learning day learning about how to do those things? NO! But if you’re interested in MAGIK The Gathering Cards, you’ll have a blast at ELD!
Am I reading this right some Transit people make more money than firefighters 😞
Lotta bloated salaries across all departments with already questionable qualifications…
wonder what the “all in costs” are including bennifets, pension, insurance, etc?
I’m just shocked
Dave-
This is great. I hope this will be updated year over year. If there was a way to track salary growth, would love to see that as a baseline accountability measure.
Gateway pays newer employees more than those who’ve worked there for years with more experience. Disgusting.
DOGE needs to come in an clean house, starting with the overstaffed & overpaid Talent & Culture. They promote from within without posting jobs to unqualified people.
There are do many lazy employees who spend their time creating useless meetings & parties.
Way too many Directors too.
Especially the compensation director. There is no way that’s a full time job when they allegedly rely on a “formula” for compensation. They like to reward each other in that department.
GTC will be saying goodbye to the following at or lose federal funding after February 28th:
Tammi Summers Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion $154,853
Jomarie Colorian $93,827
Danyanna Dunn $65 824
Katelyn Lohre $91,696
Stacey Malacara $91,696
Desmar McDuffie $75,187
Francisco Navarro $58,352
And all other DEI employees
That will be a big savings as there are so many.
Watch for these names, if still there with different title that defies the executive order.
Let’s hope.
….does the money stay with the college ?
Or does that get refunded to the taxpayers ?
Sure DEI is gone but do those $$$ stay in their budget to be used elsewhere ?
Refunded to the tax payers. What planet are you on.
Like that’s really going to happen
Tammi Summers is staying.
Tammi Summers is staying.
The president of GTC sent out an e-mail to employees today stating exactly that: “Dr. Tammi Summers will continue in her role as acting vice president of Student Affairs as well as continue to lead student support programming.” The rest of those people on the list sit in the multi-cultural room eating all day. I’ve never seen a student in there, they all just sit around a buffet of food doing nothing. The worst part is over half of the GTC employees “work from home” aka COLLECT A PAYCHECK. In one of the highest paid departments- IT- only 25 of their 55 person department come to campus. The administrative building is even worse (where Talent & Culture is housed), there are more empty desks there than I’ve ever seen anywhere. Yet the hard working ones who come to campus and put miles on their vehicles, pay for gas, pay for a wardrobe to wear, beauty/hygiene supplies etc. have to fight to keep their jobs because the ‘Executive Leadership Team’ don’t think they’re needed. Gateway has classes until 10:00pm most nights but the ELT doesn’t think they need an IT tech after 5:30pm?!?!? The actual IT techs seem like some of the hardest working people at Gateway yet they keep getting cut, not replaced, while people’s wives, mother’s and tenants are hired at ridiculous rates and never come to campus. I met a Gateway employee who had been there 3 years and was on campus twice: once to fill out his new hire paperwork and once for issues with his gateway issued laptop. Let’s not forget these people’s salaries don’t end there, they get amazing benefits including PET INSURANCE, 14 paid days off per year for ‘holidays’ like Veteran’s Day , Flag Day and Juneteenth, AND $500-$1,000 standing desks to work at, there’s a dept. that even got a treadmill for one of their employees to walk on while she’s at work! They all get laptops, monitors, $300 wireless headsets etc. I don’t understand why over half of Gateways administration and IT department “work” from home when that started for COVID which has been over for 3 years now. No one monitors their productivity, there isn’t one single person who has to fill out a productivity report, no one ensures they’re producing 40 hours worth of work every week, yet they’re all getting OBSCENE amounts of pay for 40 hours of weekly work.
I have a college degree, been in the healthcare field for almost 10 years and make a third of some of these people… crazy.
That is so sad.
Why is it crazy? What college degree what job? As I tell people often, these careers were on the menu. You just picked wrong.
Why does an Art teacher make more than a H.S math teacher??
Experience? Degree? Both move a teacher on the pay scale faster.
Right art has no value here.
This is good information. It may need some refinement but a very good start. It shows that some people are underpaid, some are adequately paid and some salaries are way out of line. The city administrator, for example, has seldom been a professional administrator vs. Pleasant Prairie where the administrators (like them or now) have substantially better qualifications and are paid less than the city. There’s more. Pleasant Prairie pays its communications guy a hefty $101K but that’s a pittance compared to the nearly $150K KUSD shells out to Tanya Ruder and the county p.r. guy must feel cheated at $84K. Meanwhile, Sheriff Zoerner is paid $16K less than the Pleasant Prairie Police Chief and the gap with the Kenosha Police Chief is even greater.
Gateway Talent & Culture fancy name for HR?
Paul Aceto, Administrative Assistant $31.29/hr = $65,083.20 before ot
Selina Bohn, Director, Compensation $115,469.
Ann Fredriksson, Training and Development Specialist $29.13/hr = $60,590.40 before ot
Elizabeth Guerrero, Manager, Talent Acquisition $89,397.
Heather Halbach, Manager, Benefits $76,066.
Maria Iribarren Turmero, Talent Acquisition Specialist $63,386.
Alan Jelinek, Manager, Payroll $92,493.
Jacqueline Morris, Vice President, Talent & Culture $163,151.
Magan Perez, Director, Employee Engagement $114,594.
Michelle Ruiz, Payroll Tech $30.85/hr = $64,168 before ot
Denise Schneider, Training and Development Manager $85,141.
This equals $989,500/year of our taxpayer dollars for just this department provided I didn’t miss anyone.
Who is allowing our money to be wasted this way? Just think of the other departments.
How is this is helping students?
I’ve worked at bigger corporations with a small hr department.
Everyone should be outraged!!!!
Who do we contact to complain about this? We need DOGE!!!!
A VP, two directors & four managers. Ridiculous
There are departments within Kenosha County the finance department and human resource department still have remote days a.k.a work from home 🤣. I thought that ended years ago.
Alan Jelinek is worth his salary but the rest are not even close, and no, I am not Alan.
This is so funny, you’d know if you had to work with him, incompetent.
Well that’s not good LOL
How many direct reports does this compensation director have, none? What exactly are they directing?
The same is true of the managers, who are they managing?
youre upset people make less than 6 figures, saying thats too much? just admit youre poor
You are 100% correct! That is OUTRAGEOUS!
$145,000 for VoSL admin? Come on!
Cassandra Hiller is underpaid for her experience and qualifications ! Salem is lucky to have her.
The “New” Village of Salem Lakes is going through growing pains as they work towards understanding and implementing all the responsibilities that a village is responsible by state law !
For once being the oldest Town in the state, over 160 years, as a New Village the population needs to understand that compliance cost money !
Additionally while it’s been a decade or more since the fire department went from volunteer to paid full time staff, they still struggle with having enough employees to fulfill the requirements of fire and ambulance services for their residents 24 hours a day.
Not to mention the corruption cycle they just got out of last year.
Retaining staff requires paying them a competitive wage. And in that regard they are lacking.
Salem Residents need to understand that to live in their very nice, non city, non Illinois, non backwoods community, they need to pay more for the services they require and expect !!
Salem is on the right path but that path needs attention and support and maintenance to keep clear. Salem is a great place to live for people who still work in Illinois and Milwaukee but don’t want to live in Illinois and Milwaukee. As we expect more we need to realize that our cost are the same as those other places.
Not being in Illinois or Milwaukee doesn’t make our cost or bills cheaper.
If you enjoy our semi rural setting, and want to keep it that way, get involved with your village. If nothing else, go to a monthly meeting or two.
Calm down, Rita. People are allowed to think blowing the budget on an under-qualified IL person is a bad idea. The proof is in the financials.
And enough with the “new board”. They’ve been on long enough to be held accountable for the crap we are seeing. Cassandra doesn’t care about this town, she cares about herself, her paycheck, the perks she’s creating for herself and now her new furniture and assistant she doesn’t need. WASTE OF MY TAX DOLLARS.
People like you like to watch the nickels and dimes when the dollars are flying over your head.
Cassandra is watching and figuring every dollar because there are so few of them to do what is required by law.
You need to get a clue on how all the rules changed back in 17 when we became a village.
If you remember back then there were plenty of examples of Dianne and the rest who liked the village idea but didn’t have a clue what it meant.
Muddled through it until the scrutiny got to be too much.
People like you should think before you spout off.
Read. Look. Listen. Get a clue
Ha! No acknowledgment of the mismanagement of late I see? How about the over spending at the FD or the cronyism that is pushing good long time clerks out? Or maybe it’s Hillers obsession with “doing something big” to get her name out there at the detriment of the Village?
Good effort 😉
At the Fire Department ?
How about trying to catch up to where they need to be.
Plenty of information out there. Just open your eyes !
Precisely, you need to catch up to the lack of oversight and lack of knowledge at VoSL. They are all quite lost and they weren’t prepared for the takeover of the the old Board. Same shit show, different people- only now we have an overpaid who puppeteer who hasn’t a clue.
For transparency, could you include years of service, bachelors/masters degrees and required state teaching licenses????
That would require to much nuance.
People need to put pressure on the city and the mayor to eliminate the city administrator position the city does not need it
Yes, Our city does not need a city administrator, especially an unqualified city administrator with a fake college degree.
You have corrections officers earning more then teachers, that is why the USA is fucked!
I don’t ever want to hear another teacher gripe about money when I am seeing these salaries
Starting salary is less than the national average. The ones making more have been there a long time. Don’t think they should make minimum wage? The referendum was t even for salaries. Ignorance is bliss.
So an Alderman who is responsible for a city budget, can’t properly do the math on hourly teacher salaries based on the 10 months they get paid for? That’s amusing if not scary.
This is also public data anybody can find it with a simple google search. Real breaking news.
My neighbor is the Highways Operations Superintendent at 96,107 annually. His county provided vehicle is gone for a couple of hours in the morning, and a couple of hours in the afternoon, four days a week. Otherwise, it sits in his driveway and he sits in his house. Is he working from home? How does the Highway Department work from home?
The same way the ‘Director’ of IT @ Gateway’s Administrative assistant ‘works’ from home. How does that make any sense? Your boss is here and you’re at home ‘working’?!? Doing WHAT?!? Because all the other employyes AT WORK are having to answer the phones and open the door for people so what are you getting paid for? Let’s not bring up the OTHER ‘Director’s wife who gets paid 29.87 per hour to ‘work’ from home doing ‘packaging’?!?! She comes to campus once every 3 months when new computers come in to help unbox them, every other day is punched in from 7-3 collecting a paycheck, I can’t even refer to it as working from home anymore. OH! And lets not forget about the OTHER IT administrative assistant who got her mother a job collecting a paycheck from Gateway. Don’t even know what her title is or what she does, no one’s ever even seen her, yet she gets to collect a full time paycheck every two weeks. Ritu Raju what are you paid $167K for annually if you don’t see this abhorrent payroll theft going on?!?!