The largest part of taxpayer-funded city budgets go to salaries.
It pays the firefighters responding to medical emergencies, the public works employees managing drinking water, the maintenance workers fixing broken playgrounds and cleaning trashed parks, and the police patrolling the streets.
In Salem and Eugene, thousands of employees are on the payroll, costing tens of millions of dollars each year.
The Statesman Journal and Register-Guard, using the state public records law, filed numerous requests to state and local government agencies for data detailing how much public employees are being paid.
The results of those requests, with salary data for more than 76,000 government positions, can be found online at data.statesmanjournal.com/salary/ and data.registerguard.com/salary/.
An analysis of the Salem and Eugene salary data shows Eugene has more employees and spends more on salaries than Salem does.
The two cities are similarly sized. Eugene gets additional revenue for community safety from a city payroll tax, which has been in effect since 2021.
Eugene's payroll tax rate is .30% for individuals earning between $29,557 and $31,220 and .44% for individuals earning more. Those who earn less than $29,557 are exempt. Someone earning $29.90 an hour, or $62,192 a year, pays about $274 a year.
The Salem City Council recently passed a similar tax but opponents gathered enough signatures to put it up for a public vote in November.
Salem's tax rate, which would go into effect in...
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