Yahoo Finance SC Transportation secretary gets $36K raise after appointment to new role
The state’s new transportation secretary will earn more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars a year.
Transportation Secretary Justin Powell will earn about $254,000 a year after he was appointed to replace Christy Hall, who retired in March. The Agency Head Salary Commission approved the salary Wednesday.
Powell runs a 3,800-employee agency with a $2.7 billion annual budget.
Powell was earning $218,000 a year when he was the agency’s chief operating officer.
Before Hall retired in March, she was earning $309,920 a year.
The commission also approved a bonus for CEO of the state-owned Santee Cooper electric utility.
Santee Cooper CEO Jimmy Staton received nearly $247,000 bonus in performance-based incentives. He could have received up to $250,000.
Staton’s bonus was based off of customer satisfaction, transparency in the agency, energy distribution, generation and transmission reliability, and how well he revitalized the Santee Cooper brand, among other factors.
The electric utility had been under fire after the fallout of the failed V.C. Summer Nuclear power plant construction project. Santee Cooper was a junior partner in the project that led to billions in debt for a project that did not produce a watt of electricity before it was abandoned.
The commission approved Staton, who was hired in late 2021, also receive a 3% raise on his $1.4 million salary.
First Steps Director of Administration Mark Barnes saw his salary increase from $125,600 to $135,657 as he took on the role to serve as interim executive director. Outgoing Executive Director Georgia Mjartan is leaving the agency to become president and CEO of Central Carolina Community Foundation. Mjartan starts her new job July 1.
The early childhood agency’s board is conducting a national search for a permanent replacement. Barnes has said he will not be a candidate for the job.
The Agency Head Salary Commission also approved salaries for presidents of two technical colleges who were recently hired.
Midlands Technical College Interim President Gregory Little will earn $232,306.
Trident Technical College President Vicky Wood will $250,000.
