Honolulu Salaries 2013 — Chief Medical Examiner City’s Top Paid Employee
Dr. Christopher Happy, chief medical examiner, wins the title of being the City and County of Honolulu’s highest paid worker.
He filled the long-vacant position in November at an annual salary of $250,000, salary data shows.
That was just enough to edge out Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Dan Grabauskas, the second-highest earner. He’s set to take home $245,000 in fiscal 2013, which started July 1.
Both earn far more than Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who will take home $129,600.
Honolulu provided the salary data for 9,100 employees at Civil Beat‘s request. That’s almost 640 more employees than the city shared information on last year.
But the workforce didn’t necessarily grow by that many people. Instead, the difference is due in large part to the city providing salary ranges for 2,589 people who work for the Honolulu Police Department. In 2012, the city only gave us the data for the HPD employees whose names could be disclosed, which limited it to 587 people — mostly dispatchers, clerks and technicians.
This time around the city included all the cops too — but by job title only. HPD officials continue to take the position that names of officers can’t be disclosed because it could compromise undercover work, whether the officer is assigned to undercover duty or not.
For HPD, Chief Louis Kealoha earns the most in the department at $151,632 for 2013. His two deputy chiefs, Dave Kajihiro and Marie McCauley are set to make $144,624.
Metro detectives will earn between $62,376 and $87,144 in 2013, a healthy bump above an average officer’s annual salary of $53,268 to $76,704.
HPD salaries comprise a significant chunk of the city’s budget. In fiscal 2013, Honolulu is set to pay HPD workers a combined $137.75 million to $196.49 million.
The 2013 budget for all city workers’ wages is $441.5 million to $583.5 million. They are set to earn an average of $48,495 to $64,090.
City officials in December reported a $28 million deficit in the current fiscal year. Budget Director Nelson Koyanagi said projections show minimal growth and escalating costs for debt service, pension and health benefits and collective bargaining increases.
Here’s a look at the top 5 highest paid city employees:
| Rank | Department | Title | Name | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medical Examiner | Chief Medical Examiner | Christopher Happy | $250,000 |
| 2 | HART | Director of Rapid Transportation | Dan Grabauskas | $245,000 |
| 3 | Board Of Water Supply | Dist Cool Plt Mgr and Oper | Robin Lerseth | $220,008 |
| 4 | HART | Deputy Director of Rapid Transportation | Brennon Morioka | $185,000 |
| 5 | Board of Water Supply | Manager and Chief Engineer | Ernest Lau | $160,000 |
Here’s the salary database for 2013. You can search by first and last name, department, job title, salary range and year. To compare how this year stacks up to previous years, check out the salary database that covers 2011 and 2012 here.
- Contact Nathan Eagle via email at neagle@civilbeat.com or Twitter at .
