City of Gaffney Administrator James Taylor doesn't have much company when it comes to highly paid city employees.

Only two other city employees join Taylor in earning $50,000 or more a year, according to information provided by city officials.

Taylor is the top-paid city employee at $78,171 a year. City engineer Scott Keller is close behind, earning an annual salary of $74,202.

There's a wide gap between Keller and the next-highestpaid city employee, Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner, who earns $51,147.

The city has a workforce of 155 people.

According to Municipal Association of South Carolina wage and compensation surveys, Gaffney's wages fall between the midpoint and lower third of the wage scales of comparable cities.

Gaffney Mayor Henry Jolly said he feels the city offers a competitive wage.

"I feel like the city workers are fairly compensated," Jolly said. "We haven't had any complaints about our wage scale."

Because of cuts from the state government, city employees received no cost-of-living raise this year. But employees who were eligible for a longevity raise did get a small pay bump.