The county apparently pinches pennies when it comes to paying its employees.

In its category of counties with a population between 50,001 and 100,000, Cherokee County had the lowest payroll for fiscal year 2010 at $8,180,612, according to a wage report compiled by the South Carolina Association of Counties.

Even more telling is that the total is about $1.5 million less than the next-lowest county payroll of $9.6 million for Kershaw County, which has 41 fewer full-time employees than Cherokee.

Dorchester County, with its 758 full-time employees, had the highest payroll of $28.5 million.

Not surprisingly, a closer look at salaries according to job titles shows Cherokee County employees are frequently on the low end of the salary range — and it starts at the top.

Cherokee County Interim Administrator Ben Clary earns $63,860 a year, which makes him the lowest-paid administrator by far in the 10- county survey. Clary’s annual salary is $40,000 less than the average salary of the 10 administrators in his category.

Cherokee County Assistant Administrator Holland Belue is in the same boat as Clary, earning nearly $15,000 less than the average salary of the other assistant administrators in the report.

Cherokee County council members fare a little better in the salary report. Council members here earn $10,467, ranking them the fifth-highest paid council members in the 10-county category.

A county public works laborer had the lowest minimum salary of $17,107 — more than $2,100 less than the nextlowest minimum starting salary for the same job classification.

The county’s light, medium and heavy motor equipment operators all earned the lowest reported salaries in the report. The county’s solid waste director, recycling coordinator and landfill supervisor and attendant also had the lowest reported salaries.

The county’s Tax Assessor’s Office was another department that had a high wage gap in comparison to the other counties. County appraisers were paid slightly less than $21,000 a year or a staggering $13,000 less than the average salary of appraisers in the report.

A look at local law enforcement salaries revealed a mixed bag. Sheriff Bill Blanton earned the lowest reported salary of $65,675, but the county’s patrol officers earned about $500 more than the average salary of $33,967. The county’s chief of detectives and his fellow detectives, though, earned less than the average annual salary.

It pays to be a magistrate in Cherokee County. The chief magistrate and magistrates here earn thousands more than the average magistrate pay in the report.