SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – In May 2015, a news report focused on the relatively low cost of professional labor in the Granite, Utah school district.

The story, published by KSL.com, noted that “six employees earn over $100,000 in salary, without bonuses or benefits factored in. Superintendent Martin Bates paces the district’s list at $207,431.”

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“I think people have this perception that we’re top-heavy and these people are making a lot of money,” school district spokesman Ben Horsley was quoted as saying. “We’re not paying market value for employees. If we were, we’d be paying higher salaries.”

But the news article only referred to base salaries, which only tell a portion of the labor cost story in the Granite district. Retirement and health benefits are extremely expensive, and drive labor costs up a great deal more than the public realizes.

In 2015-16, the Granite district paid 3,447 teachers a total of $174,884,412 in base salary. That averages out to $50,735 per teacher.

The teachers also received $35,568,690 in health benefits, for an average of $10,318 per teacher, and the district made $39,306,771 in retirement contributions on their behalf, for an average of $11,403 per teacher.

That brings the average compensation for Granite teachers to $72,456 in 2015-16 – $21,721 more than the average base salary.

Here’s one example of an individual teacher’s compensation. Kenneth Whitney made a base salary of $67,487 in 2015-16, along with $16,557 worth of health benefits, and the district made a $15,987 pension contribution on his behalf. That totals $100,031.

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In the published article mentioned above, the Granite district spokesman referred to the superintendent’s salary, and suggested that it’s also lower than market standards.

“When Granite’s last (superintendent) opening occurred, we had only a handful of candidates, despite the fact we were soliciting candidates nationally,” Horsley was quoted as saying.

Superintendent Martin Bates’ base salary in 2015-16 was $218,943, but he also received $16,639 in health benefits, and the district paid a whopping $51,867 in retirement benefits on his behalf.

That brought his total compensation package to at least $287,449 – $68,506 more than his base salary.

Perhaps there would have been a few more candidates for the job if word had spread about those types of figures.