A Right-to-Know request filed by the Sun-Gazette to obtain specific salaries of three county employees has been partially granted by the county government.
At their March 10 meeting, the Lycoming County Commissioners approved new job titles for positions and in some cases changes in pay grades for employees in the Information Services Department.
At the time the county refused to release the specific salaries but did disclose salary ranges for the positions based on pay grades.
The salary figures sought by the Sun-Gazette involved employees whose pay grades had been raised to 11, which has a salary range of $55,818.82 to $82,776.05.
The salary information released by the county following the request included: director of elections and registration, $58,106.27; and senior software analyst, $66,877.68.
Information was also requested on the salary of the Senior Technology Administrator, but that was denied as the position has not been filled.
In an email to the Sun-Gazette, county officials initially cited Personally Identifiable Information (PII), information that makes a person easily identifiable, for the reason to not release specific salary amounts.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel at the PA NewsMedia Association, responded to that argument.
“I’ve been in this role for nearly 16 years, and I have never advised a media organization not to publish public employee salary information because it’s ‘personally identifiable information’ or ‘PII;’ that’s not even a defined...
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