Salaries, wages for Columbia employees added to BND Public Pay Database

The salaries and wages of Columbia city employees have been added to the Belleville News-Democrat’s Public Pay Database.

To view the BND’s Public Pay Database, go to www.bnd.com/publicpay.

The highest earner was Columbia City Administrator Douglas Brimm, who was paid $106,391.48 in total wages in the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to records provided to the BND through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The fiscal year ran from May 1, 2021, to April 30, 2022.

Steven Patton, a police officer, was the second-highest earner, bringing in $105,034.43, the records show. Christopher Smith, who served as the city engineer and director of public works, was in the third highest position with total wages of $102,810.82.

The fourth highest earner was Police Chief Jason Donjon, with $100,159.23 in total wages and the fifth-highest earner was Joshua Bayer, a sergeant with the police department, with $99,039.18.

You can see the complete list of Columbia employees and elected officials by clicking on “Columbia city” in the index at the top of the BND Public Pay Database box. Select 2021 as the year and hit the search button.

Do you want to look at salaries of employees in other governments? All you have to do is follow the same guidance. Use the drop down menu beside the space labeled “government” to find a specific local government’s list, then go from there. Or you can skip that step and look at all the salaries in the database from across the region if you scroll to the bottom of the menu, select a year and hit “search” to see all of the salaries collected in a certain year.

You can drill down deeper, too. To see a person’s title and department, click on the “details” link on the right side of the box.

You also can click on the “sort by” box to organize your search in various ways, including by first name or last name.

The BND’s Public Pay Database goes back to 2011 with information primarily obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and public filings. The salary information does not always include insurance or benefits. Some records include detailed information on overtime and other pay, while for some districts that information was not readily available.

The database includes compensation for employees in most area governments, including cities, counties, townships, school districts and public colleges and universities. More pay records will be added as the BND receives salary data through open records requests.