Data App: 27 New Entities, 30 Updated in Public Salaries Database

Today we release our second 2011 update of the Tribune's government employee salaries database, bringing the total number to 129, with salary data for 660,000 public employees.

We've added 27 new agencies — including the Bexar and Travis County Appraisal Districts, Beaumont ISD, Sul Ross State University, Sam Houston State University, University of North Texas at Dallas and several Texas A&M campuses. Every university in the A&M, Texas State and University of North Texas systems is now represented. We will complete the other major university systems in the coming months. We've also updated the salary information for 30 entities already in the database. 

The new entities are Bexar County Appraisal District, Travis County Appraisal District, Beaumont ISD, McKinney ISD, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, Prairie View A&M University, Sam Houston State University, Sul Ross State University, Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M International University, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Texas A&M University-Central Texas, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas AgriLife Research, Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas Engineering Extension Service, Texas Forest Service, Texas State University System, Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, University of North Texas at Dallas, West Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University System Health Science Center.

The updated payroll records include Arlington, Austin, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Grand Prairie, Irving, Laredo, Mesquite, Plano, Rowlett, Blinn College, Aldine ISD, El Paso ISD, Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), Capital Metro, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Metropolitan Transit Authority, VIA Metro, Lamar Institute of Technology, Lamar State College - Orange, Lamar State College - Port Arthur, Lamar University, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University System, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas State University, Texas Transportation Institute, University of North Texas, University of North Texas System and University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Although this update did not change the list of the top 25 highest-paid state employees (Mack Brown continues to hold on to the top spot at $2,511,667), there was a small change to the list of largest entities, with the city of Austin dropping out of the top 10. Austin ISD (12,202 employees) slid into 10th place to take the city's place.

The drop in public employee numbers in Austin reflects the situation found in many Texas cities and public agencies as they continue to cope with an uncertain economic climate, and is relevant as state legislators search for ways to close the budget shortfall.

Please note that the data in the database reflect the state of each entity at the time of our requests under the Texas Public Information Act and should be considered a snapshot. The app's agency page lists the dates that we received the data for each individual entity.

Let us know if you have feedback or corrections, or if you’d like us to include a particular public agency in a future update.