What We Earn

What We Earn

One intrepid reporter finds out firsthand that Bay County works hard for the money.

By Cheryl Withrow

Your mission, Cheryl, should you decide to accept,” my editor said, “is to find out what people earn in Bay County.”

Easy enough I thought, but boy, was I wrong. This assignment turned out to be “Mission Impossible,” Bay County style.

For the past few months, I have approached workers throughout the area asking about their wages. I quickly learned that salary information in the private sector is considered, for the most part, classified and top-secret. I might as well have been asking for custody of their first-born children!

While some people, especially those working in mom-and-pop stores, gladly shared their wage information with me, employees of larger businesses were adamant in adhering to their employers’ edict that “Divulging wages is against company policy.”

When I attempted to obtain private-industry wages by making telephone calls, I found opposition at nearly every encounter. When I explained, “I’m with Bay Life Magazine and we are doing an article about what Bay County’s workers earn. Will you please tell me your starting wage for _____?,” most answered, “No, we do not give out that information.” Click. End of conversation.

Failing that, I took to the streets. That, too, proved a formidable challenge. With camera, business cards and a recent copy of Bay Life in hand, I approached workers throughout Bay County, asking them to share their salary with our readers. The overwhelming response was, “No way; I don’t want to lose my job.” Photo requests also were met with a resounding “No!” If you had been there to see the reactions, you might have suspected I was asking for the type of pictures that grace the pages of Playboy.

Fortunately, I had no problem gleaning the required data for public employees thanks to Florida’s liberal open-records laws – some of the best in the country, I might add.

Calls made to local governments were met with courteous responses and detailed information. Thank you Bay County, Panama City, Lynn Haven and Panama City Beach. I appreciate your assistance in educating our reading public.

The Internet also proved to be an invaluable research tool. That was where I located information about salary structure, area wages and overall employment data.

Did you know that salaries for Bay County’s constitutional officers and school superintendent are dictated by the Legislature? Florida’s Legislative Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, chaired by Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Pinellas County, compiles a handbook of elected officials’ salaries. I thought you might find it interesting to know what we, as taxpayers, pay those we put in office.

As I delved further into the financial data of an average Bay County worker, I quickly learned that our salaries fall short of the statewide average in almost every category.

Even though the majority of people I spoke with indicated the lower salaries were an acceptable tradeoff for an exceptional quality of life, I soon realized that bringing more opportunities to the area, opportunities that offer a living wage and a viable benefit package, are paramount to maintaining Bay County’s reputation as a great place to live, work and raise a family. – Erica Spivey and Terresa Whidden contributed to this report.

Salary Story: Sue Campbell

Newspaper Carrier Self-employed

By Cheryl Withrow

With three children under the age of 7 at home and another on the way, it is easy to see why this young mother opts to work during the wee hours of the morning.

“I get up at 3 a.m.,” said Sue Campbell, who delivers a News Herald rural route in the northern reaches of the county. The route, 69 miles long, takes approximately two and a half hours to complete.

“I am usually home by 6:15,” she said. “I immediately wake my husband and son, then head to the kitchen to prepare a hot breakfast and fix a sack lunch for my spouse.”

Her commute is minimal. It is only nine miles from her house to the drop site, a convenience store where her papers are delivered daily.

According to Campbell, the best thing about her job is the fact that she does not require day-care services.

“I get to raise my children myself and still contribute to the household finances,” she said.

In addition, she doesn’t have to invest in a fancy wardrobe.

“I can wear my pajamas if I want,” Campbell laughed. As an independent contractor, her only responsibility to the company is to get a readable copy of the newspaper to subscribers by the delivery deadline stipulated in her contract.

Compensation, though, has shrunk because of high gas prices. When Campbell signed up for the route three years ago, gas was $1.69 per gallon.

“When it was at $3-plus per gallon, I considered giving this up – but the alternative was an eight-hour-a-day job, day care and less time for my family,” she said. “The route won.”

According to last year’s 1040 form, she went in the hole. The IRS allowed more than 40 cents per mile in expenses. When you consider that the route she runs pays around $9,600 per year and gas and oil consume about one-third of that figure, Campbell’s usable income is approximately $6,500 per year.

“Bottom line: Even though I am committed to running this route seven days a week, 365 days a year, it makes my house payment and lets me be the kind of wife and mother I want to be,” she said.

Salary Story: Vicki Cestaro

Customer Care Representative - Nextel

By Cheryl Withrow

Vicki Cestaro is a newlywed with no children, and she loves her job.

She started with Nextel three years ago, responding to the company’s call for customer care representatives to staff their newly completed facility in Panama City Beach.

“I had a background in customer service and felt I was the kind of person they needed,” Cestaro said.

On a typical day, she is up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for her 45-minute commute. Her day at the office starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m. The hours are one of the perks, as far as Cestaro is concerned, because it gives her the majority of the day to indulge in personal pursuits. The other shift lasts until midnight. Although she has spent time on the afternoon shift, she prefers mornings.

“I am a morning person,” Cestaro said.

On the job, her duty is to answer inbound calls and handle billing and rate-plan questions, as well as explanations of features.

“I must have a working knowledge of all the features we offer,” she said. “After a while, you feel like you’re doing it with your eyes closed.”

Pay and benefits are good at the local company. According to Cestaro, Nextel provides a company cell phone, paid holidays and vacation, as well as access to medical and life insurance benefits and a decent hourly wage. After three years, she clocks in at $10.75 an hour, which computes to $22,360 per year.

With the company’s recent acquisition by Sprint, job security is questionable. Local business coverage suggests some jobs may be lost because positions may be consolidated with existing Sprint employees. Cestaro admitted that rumors have run the gamut since the purchase was completed several months ago, but she is optimistic.

“I continue to do my job to the best of my ability,” she said. “I am there every day. If need be, I will relocate, although I would hate to leave the area.”

Summing up her feelings about the job, Cestaro said that “being a rep is like any other job – sometimes it has its down side, but if a customer is really upset and you find a resolution for their problem, it’s great. I live for it.”

Salary Story: Daryl Congdon

Convenience Store Clerk - Tom Thumb

By Cheryl Withrow

After life threw this middle-aged man a curve ball, he is picking up the pieces and moving onward and upward.

“I was in pretty bad shape after I lost my job in the construction industry when the housing market took a nosedive,” said Daryl Congdon, who now works in retail as a clerk for Tom Thumb.

In order to make ends meet, he also stocks for an area discount house that declined to let him use its name for this article.

“I sleep when I can and work when I have to,” Congdon said. “In the meantime I watch sports and work jigsaw puzzles.”

One of the best things about his new job is the length of his commute.

“I walk the length of a football field (100 yards) every day to my job,” he said.

With a solid background in the construction industry, you might think Congdon would plan to return to it when building gets back on the fast track – but he doesn’t think he is interested in that line of employment any longer.

“For the first time in my life, and I’m 49, I am working indoors, and I’ve found that I like it,” he said. “My goal it to pursue an indoor job with better pay and advancement opportunities.”

Congdon, who is the father of two grown sons who live in Texas, also said that if a construction job, even at better pay, would come open, he would not be interested unless it was in a supervisory capacity. Currently he makes $6.85 an hour at Tom Thumb and minimum wage at his stocking job.

“The Tom Thumb money is OK for what I do, but as far as my other job is concerned, I am aware that most stockers make considerably more than me,” Congdon said. “But, bottom line, it helps pay the bills.”

Salary Story: Sheran Whitaker

Broker-Owner - New Town Realty

By Cheryl Withrow

Being a broker-owner of your own real estate company means you wear many hats. Just ask Sheran Whitaker, who does just that as the head of New Town Realty. With 10 Realtors working under her umbrella, Whitaker is a busy woman.

“I am at the office daily at 9 a.m.,” she said. “As you can see, my office door is always open. I may be writing a contract, balancing checkbooks or helping one of my Realtors fine-tune a financial opportunity for a client. I do stay busy.”

Whitaker is a member of both the Bay County and Chipola Area Boards of Realtors. She said barriers that made it difficult to simultaneously navigate these databases have effectively disappeared in recent years. This melding of resources extends her market reach. In fact, her office now is licensed to sell real estate in Alabama.

Her initial commute to the office takes about 10 minutes, but she puts many additional miles on her vehicle showing property, attending meetings and conducting market research.

“I am equally at home showing 60 acres in the country as I am showing a $2-million beachfront lot,” Whitaker said.

Although she has no children at home full time, she has a son, Chad, who is pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at Florida State University. He makes it home on occasion during the school year and in the summer. Her first grandchild, Rowan Anne, was born Dec. 7 to son Shane and his wife, Jessica, who is a Realtor in Whitaker’s firm.

Needless to say, selling real estate is a job that can be a feast-or-famine proposition. In 2005, Whitaker had net earnings of $95,000. Plaques on her office wall honor her personal sales performance. In 2004 she sold $7 million; in 2005, the number dropped to $4 million.

“In 2006, I will be lucky if all together we sold $4 million,” she said. “I suspect my net will be in the low $20s.”

Real estate seems a good fit for this successful businesswoman, even with the ups and downs of the market.

“Overall, I can’t make this much money in another field,” Whitaker said.

“Sometimes I feel like I spend way too much time for what I make,” she said, pointing to an inch-thick file that has been more than a year in the works. “But I really can’t complain. This is a very interesting job. There is no boredom. I love it. I meet people, impact their lives and make their dreams come true. What more could you ask for?”