County to Add Employee Names to Pay Website

Bernalillo County commissioners narrowly agreed late Tuesday to start publishing employees’ names along with their salaries online.

Until now, the county has identified most employees only by job title in its online salary list. Department heads and above are listed by name.

Commissioner Wayne Johnson sponsored the measure, which he said was necessary to provide greater transparency in county government.

The pay of government employees is already available by request under the Inspection of Public Records Act. Putting it on the website simply makes it easier for the public to find, Johnson said.

“What I’m taking about here is removing barriers to information the public already has a right to,” Johnson said.

Approval of the ordinance came on a party-line vote. Republicans Johnson, Simon Kubiak and Michael Wiener votes “yes,” and Democrats Art De La Cruz and Maggie Hart Stebbins voted “no.”

De La Cruz and Hart Stebbins questioned whether the addition of names would violate people’s privacy and contribute to identity theft.