University of Rhode Island men’s basketball coach Ryan “Archie” Miller solidified his position as the highest-earning state employee this year, the second year he has topped the list.
Miller, who is now in his third season in Kingston, made $2,174,730 this year, more than triple his boss and second-highest-paid state employee, URI President Marc Parlange. Parlange made $609,230, according to a list of the state’s 200 highest 2024 earners provided by the Department of Administration Friday.
This year’s list of highest-paid Rhode Island public employees is very similar to the 2023 list, and many others of recent vintage.
URI coaches and administrators dominate the list, along with employees of the state hospital and prison systems. The earnings of correctional officers and hospital staff on the list include large amounts of overtime to keep the facilities running 24 hour a day.
URI men’s basketball coach Archie Miller is once again the highest-paid state employee, earning $2.2 million in 2024.
As always, the top 200 list does not include employees of quasi-state agencies, such as the Rhode Island Airport Corp.
If it did, RIAC CEO Iftikhar Ahmad would almost certainly take the second spot over Parlange. Last year Ahmad made $785,468.
Of the top 10 highest-earning state employees this year, six are from URI.
After Miller and Parlange, URI women’s basketball coach Tammi Reiss was fourth on the list at $452,651.
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URI Provost Barbara Wolfe was fifth on the list at $440,651; URI football coach James Fleming eighth at $380,105; and URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn ninth at 368,056.
The chief medical officer at the Rhode Island State Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Pedro Tactacan, made the third most this year, 459,106. Psychiatric Administrator Dr. Jason Andreas made $430,679.
Who worked a lot of overtime this year?
Anyone who has looked into high-earning state employees will recognize the name Mark Wilbur, the undisputed overtime king of the Adult Correctional Institutions.
Wilbur was the seventh-highest-paid state worker this year. In addition to his $84,963 in regular pay, he made $284,973 in overtime. Wilbur has made at least $180,000 in overtime every year since 2018. (Technically, more than half of Miller’s compensation package at URI was considered overtime, making him the top overtime earner.)
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Wilbur was one of 40 correctional officers in the top 200 earners list. All made more than $100,000 in overtime.
The judiciary had 52 employees on the top 200 list, lead by State Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Suttell’s $282,368. There were 42 members of the Rhode Island State Police on the list.
Gov. Dan McKee did not make the top 200 highest-paid list. But his chief of staff, Antonio Afonso Jr., did, at $229,179.
The highest-paid General Assembly employee was House budget guru Sharon Reynolds Ferland, $228,428. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi’s chief of staff, Raymond Simone, also made the top 200 at $214,976.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI’s top-earning state employees for 2024: URI coaches, administrators
