SUNNYSIDE, Wash. – If taxpayers in the Sunnyside, Washington school district were to inquire about the superintendent’s salary, they would probably find a simple figure – $186,380.

And they would probably assume that’s roughly the amount that the superintendent position costs the district every year.

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The truth is that it’s much more expensive than that, when all the extras are added up.

The $186,380 was Superintendent Richard Cole’s base salary for the 2015-16 fiscal year.

According to information obtained from the school district, he also received a doctorate stipend ($1,500), a longevity stipend ($1,500), a telecommunications stipend ($2,400), a responsibility stipend ($4,800) and a “vacation buyback” ($8,917.60).

All of that inflated his compensation to $205,497.60. And then there was the significant cost of his benefit package.

Cole’s health care insurance cost the district $10,613. Then there was the cost of his life insurance premiums ($6,503), vision insurance ($386) and something called a “health care authority carve-out” ($785).

The Sunnyside district also paid $6,439.18 in social security taxes, $3,094.86 in Medicaid taxes, and $1,571.12 for disability coverage for Cole.

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All the insurance and government fees totaled $31,256.90.

Finally, the school paid $24,596.04 on Cole’s behalf into the Washington State retirement program.

With everything added up, the Sunnyside district paid $261,350 in compensation and other fees to employ Cole in 2015-16, which was $74,970 more than his base salary.

As it turns out, Cole was not the only superintendent being paid by the district in 2015-16. He submitted his resignation in January, 2016 following his second drunk driving arrest and went on medical leave for the rest of the school year, according to a news report from NBCrightnow.com.

James Chambers was the “interim superintendent paid on an as-needed basis when Richard Cole was on leave,” according to the school district. He was paid $47,720 in estimated salary and $3,813.53 in estimated benefits.

That totals $51,533.53 for the interim superintendent.

And that brought the district’s total cost for superintendent services to $312,883, which was $126,503 more than Cole’s base salary.

As you can see, there is much more to public school payrolls than most people understand.