State Government

56 state employees earn more than $200K

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BEST PAID STATE EMPLOYEES include (clockwise from top left) Dr. Michael Rapoport (#3), Dr. Michael Saroyan (#5), Gov. Phil Scott (#6), and Dr. Elizabeth Bundock (#1).

By Guy Page

Most of the 56 state employees earning over $200,000 are judges. The top five, however, are physicians, according to the latest data available on the State of Vermont website. 

The top earner (see table below exported from State of Vermont Employee Salaries page) is Dr. Elizabeth Bundock, the Chief Medical Examiner, at $332,571. The second best paid state employer ($266,386) is Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kathleen McCubbin. Another Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Elaine Amoresano, is the fourth best paid at $251,597.

The mission of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) is to ensure superior death investigations in an efficient system that and serves the needs of the Vermont citizens, the OCME website says. “We do this by collecting and providing the best possible data to inform decisions at the individual, community, program and policy levels.”

The office works “with local and state agencies to provide accurate and complete assessments of deaths that happen in Vermont. Our goal is to provide technically excellent and timely services, with compassion and sensitivity for the special needs of bereaved families,” the site says.

Two Scott administration ‘exempt’ appointees to the Vermont Health Access program are and respectively: Medicaid Medical Director Michael Rapaport ($255,756) and John Saroyan (Director, Blueprint for Health). 

Saroyan ($235,331) has had a lengthy career in medicine including palliative care for children. “After the untimely death of a favorite teacher’s son in 1988, I applied to a unique mentorship program in San Francisco for high school students and was paired with a pediatric oncologist for seven weeks of my summer vacation,” according to a Vermont Medical Society statement. 

Exempt employees are typically salaried workers who are not entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), while classified employees usually refer to those whose job roles and pay structures are defined by specific categories, which may include both exempt and non-exempt classifications.

Gov. Phil Scott, who definitely works more than the standard work week, weighs in at with $226,012. The contractor and race car driver is neither doctor nor lawyer. Wendy Shapiro, CEO of the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital and also neither doctor nor lawyer, earns $213,096. 

Likely due to the need to pay competitive salaries to attract competent talent in the the legal profession, virtually every other $200K-plus state employee is a judge and one-time practicing lawyer, including Ed McNamara, lawyer and Chair of the Vermont Public Utility Commission, the state’s energy and utilities court and regulator. Holding a judge-ish position is former litigator Owen Foster, Chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, the state’s health care regulatory board. 

Top earning State of Vermont employees

NameJob TitleDepartmentJob TypeSalarySalary Type
Bundock,ElizabethChief Medical ExaminerHealthClassified332571.2Annual
McCubbin,Kathleen Deputy Chief Medical ExaminerHealthClassified266385.6Annual
Rapaport,Michael Medicaid Medical DirectorVermont Health AccessExempt255756.8Annual
Amoresano,ElaineDeputy Chief Medical ExaminerHealthClassified251596.8Annual
Saroyan,John MeranDirector, Blueprint for HealthVermont Health AccessExempt235331.2Annual
Scott,Philip BGovernorExecutive OfficeExempt226012.8Annual
Reiber,Paul LChief JusticeJudiciaryExempt225576Annual
Carroll,Karen RAssociate JusticeJudiciaryExempt215280Annual
Cohen,WilliamAssociate JusticeJudiciaryExempt215280Annual
Corsones,Therese MState Court AdministratorJudiciaryExempt215280Annual
Eaton Jr.,Harold EAssociate JusticeJudiciaryExempt215280Annual
Waples,NancyAssociate JusticeJudiciaryExempt215280Annual
Zonay,Thomas AChief Superior JudgeJudiciaryExempt215280Annual
Shapiro,WendyChief Executive OfficerMental HealthExempt213096Annual
Arms,Alison SSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Badgewick,BonnieSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Barra,David ASuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Barrett,Jennifer LSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Battles,BenjaminSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Burke,Alexander NSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Corbett IV,Henry DSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Corsones,Cortland TSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
DiSano,DanaSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Doherty,TimothySuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Fenster,David RSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Foster,OwenChair, Green Mtn Care BoardGreen Mountain Care BoardExempt204651.2Annual
Gallagher,KateSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Gray,Heather JSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Griffin,Kevin WSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Harris,Michael JSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Hoar,SamuelSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Jiron,JustinSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Kainen,Michael RSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Kalfus,Howard ASuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Katims,Robert WSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Malone,Rachel MSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Mann,ElizabethSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
McDonald-Cady,KerrySuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
McLean,Joseph SEnvironmental JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
McManus,Susan ASuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Mcnamara,EdPublic Utility Comm ChairPublic Utility CommissionExempt204651.2Annual
Morrissey,Mary LSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Novotny,ElizabethSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Pacht,John LSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Richardson,Daniel PSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Rowntree,Laura CSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Schoonover,KirstinSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Shafritz,MeganSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Spero,NavahSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Thibault,RorySuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Tomasi,Timothy BSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Treadwell,John RSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Valente,John WSuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Walsh,Thomas GEnvironmental JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual
Warren,Lisa ASuperior JudgeJudiciaryExempt204651.2Annual

For more State of Vermont employee salary info, click on the SOV Employee Salary page and click on Export.


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Categories: State Government

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11 replies »

  1. Are any of them actually worth what they are being payed ? DOGE ……

  2. Out of 56, 46 are lawyers in black robes making some of the most bone headed decisions. But who’s prime importance is wearing out shoe leather going to deposit taxpayer money. Pays to be a lawyer. They migrate to state government as they can’t make a living in the real world. Note also in the legislature how many are lawyers. Does Welch ring a bell?

  3. I didn’t realize that the catch and release practice paid so well.

  4. And in lieu of OT they get comp time. Paid at the hourly rate not to include their paid vacation. If I am a betting woman. Seems like a few get paid much more than they are worth. The head of the Green Mountain Care Board is nowhere near the job of a judge. That person is responsible for reigning in the cost of healthcare for Vermonters. Failing badly. Start paying people like those at the DMV who work their butts off, have been there for many years and don’t get raises that are commensurate with inflation or increasing property taxes. I am not speaking about admin either!!
    One of these days those of us who had to take the “ poisonous vaccines” will be able to sue the hell out of the state because we have a vaccine injury. I read our life expectancy is somewhere around 5-10 years.

  5. If anyone has ever argued before the VT Supreme Court as I have (cost $250 for 2-1/2 mins) and see what pompous AH three “Justices” are. One guy was more concerned with his mustache and the two females had their minds made up before hand upon reading the written upon coming case. It’s a total farce. Had a relative that sat on jury duty, he never saw such incompetence in the lawyers. My last lawyer (who screwed up my case of property ownership, charged $190 / hour, and I guess that today is cheap. He milked my wallet and smiled.

  6. Not to mention that we are paying a racial equity director ( who does absolutely nothing productive) over $98,000 a year. Look up what assistant tim ashe makes for watching someone work, nearly $95k a year after losing his election as a Chittenden County representative.

  7. I wouldn”t mind the medical examiners’ salaries if they showed an inkling of interest in the state’s 13-17% increase in all-cause mortality since 2021. “Baffling?”
    “Nothing to see here. Move along…”
    Cha-ching.

  8. Please keep in mind, this is but the tip of a massive iceberg. It doesn’t include the myriad ‘deep state’, NGO, non-profits like Efficiency Vermont, but one of Vermont’s money-hungry behemoths.

    Efficiency Vermont, for example, is managed for the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by Vermont Energy Investment Corp., (VEIC), a Burlington-based nonprofit, appointed by the state to run Efficiency Vermont since 2000. VEIC has approximately $123 Million annual revenues, 90% of which funded by the PUC, with approximately $85 Million going to salaries, wages and related expenses alone.

    VEIC’s CEO is paid $315,599 a year plus $14,670 in related expenses.
    VEIC’s Managing Director is paid $228,997 a year plus $2,254 in related expenses.
    A second Managing Director is paid $210,434 a year plus $9,454.
    VEIC’s Chief Growth And Impact Officer is paid $206,795 annually, plus $2,035.
    Its Chief People Officer is paid $206,497 annually, plus $6,740.

    In fact, VEIC’s top ten executives are paid, on average, more than $200,000 year. And this is just one of Vermont’s NGO non-profit money launderers.