Elizabeth Dieck, chief of staff for new Charleston Mayor William Cogswell, earns an annual salary of $250,000, according to financial reports acquired by the Charleston City Paper.
That’s about $27,000 more than the mayor makes and may be the highest salary for any municipal employee — elected or non-elected — in the state, according to data from a statewide organization that represents 271 municipalities.
“He’s willing to pay for quality,” city communications director Deja Knight McMillan told the City Paper this week. “We need someone [who is] quality to oversee the 1,800 employees at the city of Charleston. … We have to make government services one of the first and foremost things we have a handle on to make sure our residents are taken care of.”
Cogswell collects an annual salary of $222,970.17, according to financial reports, the same amount as previous Mayor John Tecklenburg. Dieck essentially replaced Tecklenburg’s top aide, Richard Jerue, who served as the senior adviser to Tecklenburg and made an annual salary of $171,641.10.
Dieck is an environmental attorney who previously served as the director of environmental affairs for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control where she was chief regulator of the state’s environmental programs. In her new position and unlike Jerue, she has a scheduling assistant who earns $67,602 per year.
Dieck’s new salary makes her one of the highest paid local government employees in the state. The highest non-elected city official salary in the state reported to the Municipal Association of South Carolina’s voluntary compensation survey was $218,795.20 — the maximum salary for assistant administrator/manager in Rock Hill — more than $30,000 less than Dieck’s salary. She is also paid more than Charleston County’s top employee, administrator William Tuten, who makes an annual salary of $243,256, according to a public July 2023 budget report on charlestoncounty.org.
Each of the city’s 18 department heads now report directly to Dieck, who is tasked with day-to-day operations of the city of Charleston. She works alongside Logan McVey, who ran Cogswell’s mayoral campaign and now serves as chief policy officer. He earns an annual salary of $175,000, about $4,000 more than Tracy McKee, who previously served as Tecklenburg’s chief innovation officer.
A million-dollar team
Also on Cogswell’s new team is former international reporter William Cathcart, who returned from the Republic of Georgia to serve as strategic adviser. He earns $125,000 annually. Cathcart is Cogswell’s speech writer and researcher, according to media reports.
S.C. Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, serves as one of the special advisers on the mayor’s team. Gilliard, who is focusing on quality of life issues, collects an annual salary of $100,000 that is over and above his legislative salary of $10,400 per year. Meanwhile, local activist and former mayoral opponent Tamika Gadsden serves as Cogswell’s special adviser on community initiatives, making $75,000 annually, according to city records.
“Their perspective is invaluable,” McMillan said. “They are bringing different viewpoints to the team, representing communities that Mayor Cogswell may not have direct access to otherwise. It’s good to look at things from different perspectives, especially when you’re representing all residents of Charleston, not just the people that voted for you.”
Other administration officials include McMillan ($125,000), scheduling assistant Alicia Boyd ($75,000), special projects assistant Trace Whetsell ($75,000) and scheduling assistant Elizabeth Bailey ($67,602.29).
According to financial reports acquired by the City Paper through a Jan. 27 Freedom of Information Act request, the city now is spending $1,285,572.46 on administrative salaries. That’s 11.6% higher than the previous administration’s $1,151,843.42 for the same number of employees.
McMillan, however, said the city is actually spending about $50,000 less in total than under Tecklenburg’s executive team budget.
“The Executive Department’s Amended Budget is $11,793,444,” she wrote in a Feb. 12 email. “In addition, there was a $50,637.98 reduction by the changes made by the new administration, making the amended budget $11,742,806.02.”
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