Salaries of Montgomery city employee, other data now online

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - You can now examine every penny the City of Montgomery spends thanks to new sections on the Open Data Montgomery website.

The City of Montgomery already had data available to the public online, like construction permitting, demolitions, street paving, 311, and response times.

On Thursday, the city unveiled three new components that involve municipal finances. Open Budget, Open Payroll and Open Checkbook offer information on city spending, revenue streams and budget allocation. It also lists the salaries of more than 2,000 city employees.

According to the payroll section, the top five paid employees for the city are:

1. Miford Jordan, Fire Chief, $150,550.82
2. Christopher J. Murphy, Director of Public Safety, $146, 908.74
3. Barry O. Crabb, Director of Finance, $144,948.54
4. Ernest N. Finley Jr., Police Chief, $139.623.95
5. Purser L. McLeod Jr., Executive Assistant to the Mayor, $137,934.78

The mayor doesn't make the top 5 highest paid list, however. Paid on a monthly basis, the mayor's salary is set by legislation to be $95,000 per year.

Officials say the goal of Open Data Montgomery is to foster greater accountability, accessibility and transparency within the city's government.

"Since bringing Open Data Montgomery online, our goal has been to build a one-stop-shop offering a variety of valuable information and resulting in increased transparency and empowered citizens," said Mayor Todd Strange.

"We prioritized releasing budget, salary and checkbook explorers, and our team will continue expanding these options as we work hand-in-hand with the tech community and private sector partners to make Montgomery an even smarter city. Not only are we seeing positive reception from residents, but city department heads have embraced using this data to enhance efficiencies within our own organization."

The state of Alabama released the same type of data on a similar website in 2009.

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