Here are Iowa's highest-paid public employees for 2016

Iowa's highest-paid public employee for more than a decade got a hefty pay raise in 2016, thanks to his team's successful season, a new database shows.

University of Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz — who led his team to the Rose Bowl in 2016 — scored an $875,000 salary bump, pushing his total state salary in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016, to $4.825 million. That was a 22 percent increase from the previous year, according to a database of public salaries obtained by the Register.

The bump put Ferentz even further ahead of No. 2 on Iowa's best-paid list for 2016: Fran McCaffery, UI's head basketball coach, had a state salary of $1.762 million.

Iowa State University's head basketball coach Steve Prohm was third with $1.6 million.

Ferentz, whose contract was extended last year through January 2026, is the 10th-highest paid national college football coach, according to a USA TODAY database published last year. (At the top of that list was Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, whose total pay was just over $9 million.)

Iowa's 2016 public salary list shows 63 Iowa public employees made at least $500,000 last year. And those in the top 10 individually made $800,000 or more.

Each of the highest-paying jobs — most are doctors, coaches or major department heads —  at Iowa’s three state universities.

According to the database, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa paid $1.993 billion in salaries in the year that ended June 30, 2016, an increase of almost $83.5 million over fiscal year 2015.

By comparison, the amount spent on salaries in Iowa’s other sectors of government — excluding the three universities — was down about $436,000 to almost $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2016.

The university salary increases come as Gov. Terry Branstad has recommended cutting Iowa’s budget to the state universities by $25.5 million.

DATABASE: State of Iowa employee salaries

“You see these larger salaries, and you have to ask if they could be cut down,” said Iowa State University Student Government Sen. Cody Woodruff, a freshman concerned about future tuition increases.

However, a study released last year by the Iowa Board of Regents indicates average professor salaries at Iowa's three state universities are in the mid- to lower ranges when compared nationally with similar schools. Jeneane Beck, UI's assistant vice president for external affairs, additionally noted that athletic budgets — which include coaching salaries — are based on profits from sports and have no correlation with student tuition rates.

Fred Abraham, the head of the University of Northern Iowa’s economic department, noted union contracts in recent years have generally required the schools to pay 2 percent to 3 percent increases in wages.

And state decisions — such as closing mental health institutes — have contributed to the overall stagnation of state salary spending through fewer employees, he added.

The new database does not suggest the universities have been frivolous with money and the information shouldn’t be used to justify budget cuts, Abraham said.

“Look, we have barely kept pace with inflation in the last few years with faculty salaries,” Abraham said. “If we want a world-class higher education system, you have to pay for it. You don’t get things for free in this world.”

Top fiscal year 2016 public salaries

1.Kirk Ferentz, head football coach, University of Iowa, $4,825,000 
2.Fran McCaffery, head basketball coach, University of Iowa, $1,762,500 
3.Steve Prohm, head basketball coach, Iowa State University, $1,600,000 
4.Ken Kates, associate vice president and CEO of UI Hospitals and Clinics, University of Iowa, $972,592.69 
5.Jean Robillard, vice president for medical affairs and dean, University of Iowa, $929,045.40 
6.Alan Reed, professor and medical doctor, University of Iowa, $889,064.75 
7.Brian Walsh, clinical associate professor and medical doctor, University of Iowa, $851,300 
8. Matthew Bollier, clinical assistant professor and medical doctor, University of Iowa, $834,105.38 
9.Vincent Ried, clinical assistant professor and medical doctor, University of Iowa, $805,408.32 
10.Debra Schwinn, associate vice president for medical affairs, University of Iowa, $803,359.31

Readers can search salaries going back 10 years at: DesMoinesRegister.com