Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
NC Gov. Josh Stein’s Cabinet salaries are mostly higher than Cooper’s. See the data
Gov. Josh Stein’s Cabinet members are paid 12% more than his predecessor’s top officials, with some earning tens of thousands more.
The Cabinet members have the top jobs in Stein’s administration, leading state agencies with thousands of state employees. And most — though not all — benefited from adjustments Stein has made in their pay.
Everyone who works for Stein, as well as the governor himself, is paid with taxpayer money. The General Assembly sets the salaries for the governor and the rest of the Council of State, who are statewide elected officials. The Cabinet members, however, are appointed by the governor, and two of them were also secretaries under Stein’s Democratic predecessor, former Gov. Roy Cooper.
Welcome to the Sunday edition of our Under the Dome newsletter, which focuses on the governor. I’m News & Observer Capitol Bureau Chief Dawn Vaughan.
Today’s newsletter is a look at Stein’s Cabinet and their salaries, with help from N&O data reporter David Raynor.
How Cabinet, Council of State salaries are determined
Stein’s Cabinet secretaries all make one of two salaries: either $240,000 or $290,000, to lead their respective agencies. Cooper, on the other hand, had more of a range of salary amounts, varying from $177,000 to $289,000.
I asked Stein’s office to explain his administration’s two levels of salaries.
“The salaries were changed to be more consistent,” spokesperson Morgan Hopkins told me in a statement.
“The current salaries for secretaries are dependent on the size and complexity of the agency,” she said.
Stein himself earns $203,073 a year, and he’s in our state employee database, maintained on our website by Raynor, like other state employees. In the database, which comes from the Office of the State Controller, his salary adjustment was described as a transfer and promotion, which came from voters in 2024. Stein previously served two terms as attorney general.
Current Attorney General Jeff Jackson is on the Council of State along with Stein, Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, Treasurer Brad Briner, Auditor Dave Boliek, Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green and Labor Commissioner Luke Farley. Their salaries are all set by the legislature, with all Council of State members aside from the governor earning the same annual salary of $168,384.
Breakdown of state agency salaries
While Stein is their boss, his Cabinet secretaries are paid more than he is.
Here’s the breakdown of who earns how much and what they do.
Some secretaries served in different roles under Cooper, and a few kept their jobs and received raises under Stein.
▪ Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Devdutta Sangvai: $290,000. This is about $1,000 more than the position under Cooper.
▪ Department of Information Technology Secretary and Chief Information Officer Teena Piccione: $290,000. That’s about $31,000 higher than the job under Cooper.
▪ Department of Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins: $290,000. This is about $20,000 more than Hopkins was paid under Cooper.
▪ Secretary of Public Safety Secretary Eddie Buffaloe Jr.: $240,000. Buffaloe was also public safety secretary under Cooper, when he earned about $224,000 a year.
▪ Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Cooley Dismukes: $240,000. This is nearly the same salary as Cooper’s secretary, who earned about $400 more.
▪ Department of Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley: $240,000. Lilley worked in the Cooper administration, but not as a Cabinet secretary. This salary is about $30,000 less a year than what Cooper paid his commerce secretary.
▪ Department of Environmental Quality Reid Wilson: $240,000. This salary is about $50,000 more than Wilson’s predecessor.
▪ Department of Natural & Cultural Resources Secretary Pamela Cashwell: $240,000. That’s over $50,000 more than her predecessor, who was Wilson.
▪ Department of Administration Secretary Gabriel Esparza: $240,000. That’s about a $49,000 higher salary than Cooper’s secretary, who was Cashwell.
▪ Department of Military & Veteran Affairs Secretary Jocelyn Mallette: $240,000. That’s about $63,000 more than the Cooper administration job.
▪ Department of Revenue Secretary McKinley Wooten Jr.: $240,000. Under Cooper, the job paid about $203,000.
All of these salaries are likely to change with the new fiscal year in July, assuming that the General Assembly passes a budget and it becomes law. The budget bill will include raises for state employees, which Stein proposed should be 2% for most state employees, and separately, what the legislature wants for the Council of State salaries.
Salaries for employees of the General Assembly are not part of the state employee salary database, but The N&O has obtained them previously through public records requests, most recently in late 2023.
Stay informed about #ncpol
Our Under the Dome podcast has moved to Tuesdays to bring you the most up to date news, so your Tuesday Under the Dome newsletter will be a preview of that new episode. This week my guest is a state lawmaker, N.C. Sen. Woodson Bradley, a Mecklenburg County Democrat. You can listen to the Under the Dome podcast on any podcast platform.
Your Under the Dome newsletter on Mondays focuses on the impact of the Trump administration on North Carolina.
Thanks for reading. Not a newsletter subscriber? Sign up on our website to receive Under the Dome in your inbox daily.
This story was originally published March 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)
