Groundskeepers Still Earning $28K After 20 Years as Lawmakers Slam DSPR Pay and Push Back on Governor’s Lawsuit

With Sports, Parks, and Recreation groundskeepers earning just $28K after two decades, lawmakers denounced the department’s pay structure and defended the $35K wage bill, calling the governor’s legal challenge a blow to long-overdue fairness.

Legislators have slammed the Department of Sports, Parks, and Recreation for having the lowest salaries within the central government. An analysis of average salaries conducted by the Legislature’s post-audit unit revealed that the average salary in the department is just over $33,000.

“Then the next one was like $37,000 and $38,000. I think that was Public Works and Agriculture,” said Senator Kurt Vialet, who initiated the conversation. “By far, Sports, Parks is the lowest paid entity.”

“The highest salary I'm seeing here for groundskeeper is $28,138,” he stated, a figure confirmed by DSPR. Vialet used this as an opportunity to hit back at Governor Albert Bryan Jr., who on Tuesday, indicated his intention to take legal action against the Legislature’s override of his veto of the bill raising the salary floor for government workers. “Individuals working for this government for 10 to 20 years and making $28,000 and there's a push back that we're financially irresponsible,” the lawmaker argued. “You have these guys driving truck up and down, cutting the field so our children to play, and we want to file a court case so that they can't make more than $28,000 after working 20 years.”

Committee chair Senator Novelle Francis was concerned about morale within the department. Morale “could be better, to be quite honest,” said DSPR Acting Commissioner Vincent Roberts. “Pay and morale go hand in hand.” Francis, for his part, was concerned about groundskeepers and laborers who sit at the “low end of the spectrum in terms of salary.”