Who is highest paid state employee in parish?

Did you ever wonder what state employee makes the most money in Washington Parish?

Well, according to the website http://www.louisianasunshine.org, there are two who shared the No. 1 spot in 2010 — both physicians at LSU-Bogalusa Medical Center or, as it is still carried in state payroll records, Washington-St. Tammany Regional Medical Center.

Dr. Richard Colon and Dr. Hamid Hussain both earned $350,000 while carrying the designation of Physician I. They earned the same amount in 2009.

Four other physicians — all at LSU-BMC — earned more than $225,000 in 2010. Those four were Mark D. East at $290,000, Rojina Jasani at $250,000, Anthony T. Pham at $240,000 and Maria Buenaflor at $227,000. Pham was listed as director while the other three were shown as Physician I staff members.

Other high-profile state employees in the parish, their job description and salary for 2010 included:
  • Dennis LaRavia, Med. Dept. Dir., Rayburn Correction, $180,000
  • Kurt Scott, CEO, LSU-BMC, $163,862
  • Jerry A. Thomas, Physician I, LSU-BMC, $145,600
  • Regina Runfalo, COO, LSU-BMC, $102,761
  • William Wainwright, Dean, LTC System, $98,788
  • Bobby Tanner, warden, Rayburn Correction Center, $93,434
  • Beverly Sheridan, Dir.-In-Service Ed., LSU-BMC, $92,144
  • Richard Friend, Dir., LSU Fam. Med. Clinic, $82,500
  • Henry Harrison, Assoc. Prof., LSU Ag Center, $73,923

The highest-paid state employee overall, according to the website, was John Lombardi, president of the LSU Board of Supervisors. Lombardi was paid $550,000 in both 2009 and 2010.

The website details records for 189,852 state workers and a total payroll of $8,422,808,835 in 2010. The average pay was $44,365 was a minimum of $0 and a maximum of $550,000.

The website can be found at www.louisianasunshine.org/payroll. There are a number of search options available.