Judges, nurses, educators: Here are more of the highest-paid Vanderburgh County employees
EVANSVILLE – Every Vanderburgh County judge who worked a full year in 2023 made the same compensation, down to the cent. Except for Les Shively.
Adjunct teaching gigs at Ivy Tech and the University of Southern Indiana – as well as a special assignment from the state Supreme Court – bolstered the longtime Vanderburgh Superior Court judge’s earnings last year.
According to Indiana Gateway – a database that tracks the earnings of state public employees – Shively made $195,676. On top of his $175,544 judge salary, he made $13,202 from Ivy Tech and $5,730 from the University of Southern Indiana.
Kathryn Dolan – chief public information officer for the Indiana Supreme Court – said Shively also earned $1,200 after Chief Justice Loretta Rush appointed him to serve as a hearing officer in the discipline case of a Haubstadt attorney who was accused of taking money from a client and then failing to show up for court.
The attorney was ultimately barred from practicing law for at least 60 days. According to Indiana Bar Association records, he's still listed as suspended.
It was all enough to make Shively the 13th-highest paid public employee in Vanderburgh County last year. Vanderburgh’s 10-highest paid individuals were listed in a previous article. This one includes Nos. 11-21 – the extra entry made possible by a six-way tie among the other judges.
All figures are taken from Gateway. This list only includes public employees, which means administrators and coaches at the University of Evansville, a private institution, aren’t included. Private business leaders don't qualify, either.
If we missed anyone who should have been included, let us know.
11. Shelly Blunt
Job: Interim provost, University of Southern Indiana
Compensation: $200,200
USI selected Blunt to replace former provost Mohammed Khayum, who announced his retirement in January and took a leave of absence that summer.
She previously worked as the dean of the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education: a position she had just taken that January.
12. Thomas Noland
Job: Associate dean, Romain College of Business at USI
Compensation: $197,000
13. Les Shively
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Superior Court
Compensation: $195,676
14. Sudesh Mujumdar
Job: Dean of the Romain College of Business, USI
Compensation: $184,665
15. Alana Figgins
Job: Nurse supervisor, Evansville Psychiatric Children’s Center
Compensation: $179,807
Figgins is the second psychiatric children’s center employee to appear in the top 20, after medical director Tejas Patel.
The center, which was founded in 1966 and sits in a green-space-heavy area along Morgan Avenue, works with “emotionally disturbed children” between 5 and 13 years old, its state website says. It’s Indiana’s only mental health facility aimed exclusively toward children.
Mental health experts refer kids there, where they are housed in two dormitories: one for older boys, and another for younger boys and every girl.
The average stay is around six months. But the general public knows little about the inner workings of the facility.
“I'm afraid we have been too well-kept of a secret,” Dr. Shannon Jones told the Courier & Press in 2018.
T-16. David Kiely
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Circuit Court
Compensation: $175,544
In January, Kiely announced he wouldn’t seek reelection and retire at the end of 2024.
Kiely’s decision came not long after the retirement of fellow judge Brett Niemeier, who stepped down in September. Jillian Kratochvil replaced him.
T-16. Mary Margaret Lloyd
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Superior Court
Compensation: $175,544
T-16. Thomas Massey
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Superior Court
Compensation: $175,544
T-16. Robert Pigman
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Superior Court
Compensation: $175,544
T-16. Gary Schutte
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Superior Court
Compensation: $175,544
T-16. Wayne Trockman
Job: Judge, Vanderburgh Superior Court
Compensation: $175,544
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Here are more of the highest-paid Vanderburgh County public employees
