Miami-Dade County employees: bringin' home the bacon!

According to Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Alvarez's web page, the county has more than 28,000 employees.

And according to documents obtained by Random Pixels, 3,301 of those employees made more than $100,000 a year in take home pay for fiscal year 2009-2010. That's more than 10% of the county workforce who are livin' large on your tax dollars.

Alvarez once bragged that he had eliminated some jobs at county hall and saved money in the process. But the Miami Herald reported earlier this year that "many of the executives whose jobs disappeared are still working for the county, in some cases at higher salaries."

More than 800 of the county employees making more than $100,000 a year are employed by the Miami-Dade Police Department.

By comparison, last year Biscayne Times discovered that almost 100 of the City of Miami's much smaller workforce of 4,000 employees made over $200,000 a year.

I've uploaded the info here or you can view the document below.

Scroll down to see some of the county employees who I've singled out for special mention.

Salary Information for Miami-Dade Dade Employee Earning $100K or More

Here are some select county employees who are, no doubt, laughing all the way to the bank.

Former Miami Herald staffer Matt Pinzur who once covered county government, left the sinking ship at One Herald Plaza for greener pastures two years ago. He now pulls down over $119,000 a year as **shocked and surprised!!** assistant to the Miami-Dade county manager. He also gets almost $2,000 a year car allowance....a perk he could only have dreamed about at the Herald.
Click on all charts below to enlarge.

Carlos Ortega, a seaport enforcement specialist with 17 years on the job takes home over $101,000 a year which includes over $45,000 in overtime pay. Compare that to the $137,000 a year that Hector Pesquera gets, who as assistant director of seaport security, is Ortega's boss. Pesquera is a retired FBI agent who once ran Miami's FBI office.

Next we have a couple of Miami-Dade cops.

Lu Ann Belzaguy, an officer with just 13 years on the force, pulls down a jaw-dropping $67,214 a year in overtime pay and takes home $140,431 a year.

But she's a slacker compared to fellow cop Brian Benson, a 29 year veteran who makes over $84,000 a year in overtime and takes home $167,000 a year!

By comparison, Oscar Vigoa, Miami-Dade PD's assistant director only makes $168,000 a year. He must feel like a real schmuck!

And let's not forget the money pit that also goes by the name of Miami International Airport. Juan Basulto, a refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic at the airport with just 3 years of county service takes home almost $122,000 a year. That includes over $46,000 in overtime.

Lincoln Road Antique Market this Sunday

Another Lincoln Road Antique Market takes place this Sunday.

And the weather outlook? Do you have to ask? Should be cool, although nothing like this thankfully!

See you there!

Tina Fey for President!

She's gonna "flip your picnic table!"

Tina Fey slices and dices and serves up Sarah Palin on a plate during an appearance last night on the Late Show with David Letterman

Haiti, 10 months after the quake

photos via The Boston Globe's Big Picture photo blog (Click on images to enlarge.)

A "before" photograph shows Haitians walking in a badly damaged street after an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, on February 3, 2010. See below for the "after" photo. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

An "after" photograph from September 30, 2010 - seven months later - shows Haitians walking on the same street as above. By some estimates, only 2 percent of the 250 million cubic meters of debris in Port-au-Prince has been cleared, for reasons ranging from lack of equipment and money to an abysmal property records system. Meanwhile, most Haitians just live and work around the piles of debris. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Random Pixels humbly suggests....

...that we change the Florida state motto for the next four years.

Memo to Miami Herald executive editor Mindy Marqués Gonzalez

Dear Mindy

I wanted to take this opportunity to offer belated congratulations on your appointment as the Miami Herald's new executive editor.

Your story is truly inspiring. Twenty five short years after starting at the bottom of the ladder at a Northwest Neighbors office, you now run the entire show. Is this a great country, or what?

But I'd be lying if I said better things are ahead. Your challenges are immense.

The Herald is going through the most difficult period in its 100 year plus history.

You're now tasked with putting out a newspaper with a greatly reduced staff and diminished resources. Also in the mix is a shrinking and alienated subscriber base.

Thirty six years ago, The Miami Herald made TIME magazine's list of The Ten Best American Daily Newspapers.

Last year it made another TIME magazine list: The Ten Most Endangered Newspapers in America.

We all know newspapers are in trouble. And we've heard all the reasons why: the Internet, the economy and on and on.

And those of us who keep track of such things know the Herald has been especially hard hit.

In 1976, when it was named to TIME's top ten list, the Herald's daily circulation was almost 405,000 and over half a million on Sunday. There were very few counties in the state where the Herald wasn't available. By 1981, as South Florida was in the midst of a difficult period, the Herald was fat and sassy with a circulation that had jumped to 421,000.

But, in figures released this month, the Herald's daily circulation has fallen to 151,612 daily. And I'm told, it's impossible to find a copy of the Herald north of the Broward county line. The Herald's Sunday circulation now ranks fifth behind other newspapers in a state it once dominated.

But despite that, your predecessor Anders Gyllenhaal, wrote in his in his farewell column Sunday that "the Herald is now emerging from the downturn with strategies that will keep us serving you for many decades to come." He also pointed to the fact that "more than 25 Herald reporters, photographers and videographers traveled [to Haiti]" following January's earthquake.

All that's very nice I suppose and I'm sure the Herald will be a contender for Pulitzer Prize next year.

But what's the point of spending precious resources on a story in a country more than 700 miles from Miami when your paper finds it all but impossible to cover a story that's just across the MacArthur Causeway?

This morning, on the Herald's website, I found the first mention of a hookworm infestation on Miami Beach that was first reported by a TV station on Oct. 21. It wasn't that many years ago that local TV stations got story ideas from the Herald and not the other way around.

It's not the first time the Herald has been late or been lazy in covering a recent story.

I'm sure that you've already had discussions with your top editors on how to improve the paper.

I also realize that you're somewhat limited in what you can do because of budget considerations. But one of the first things you might want to look at is why your paper still has a dance critic on staff when it can't find the resources to cover a neighborhood health issue or flooding problem.

After you've taken care of all that, then perhaps you'll address another problem: the fact - as one long-time staffer puts it - that the Herald "appeals to an audience we don't have anymore. We're not in sync with the community. We cover serious stories in a boring way. We don't cover stories with attitude."

Well, there you have it Mindy. To borrow a phrase from a certain politician: "Let's get to work!" And here, at Random Pixels, we're only too happy to help!