Many of the highest-paid state workers in Kansas work at Kansas University Medical Center.

But that doesn’t mean taxpayers are footing the bill for their salaries. Grants and funds from the KU Endowment Association often pay as much or more than state money.

The highest-paid Med Center professor is Patrice Delafontaine, director of KU School of Medicine’s cardiology program. He is paid $325,000 per year, but his salary is completely covered by endowment and grant funds.

The employee receiving the most in state funds is Michael Welch, vice chancellor for research. He is paid $265,674 per year, all from taxpayer funds.

The number of employees at the Med Center making $100,000 per year or more actually decreased during the past three years, to 179 in 2002 from 193 in 1999. Five-year comparisons with the Med Center aren’t possible because it changed its operational structure in 1998 when the KU Med hospital separated from the university.

Ed Phillips, vice chancellor for administration, said the decrease could be attributed to more faculty members relying on clinical income. The university often supplements new faculty members’ salaries until they establish a clinical practice.

Though some salaries at the Med Center may seem high to average Kansans, Phillips said they’re still less than the competition is paying.

“They make less than private practice physicians,” he said. “(Private physicians) are one of the most highly compensated groups in our society. When we’re having chest pains, we don’t want the minimum-wage cardiologist standing over us.

“If you’re making $35,000 a year and look at those numbers, you say, ‘Oh, my God.’ But if you look at what they do, who they are and what their peers are making, these people are well-compensated, but not overcompensated.”