Kansas Bioscience Authority president Tom Thornton (in photo) defended his staff’s salaries at a board meeting this week. “To get to the outcomes we have accomplished requires a highly qualified and exceptional staff,” Thornton said. The Eagle reported that 12 of the agency’s 21 employees have salaries of more than $100,000, and that Thornton was paid $265,000, plus a $100,000 bonus. Some members of the Senate Commerce Committee said Tuesday that they want the authority to be audited. Authority board chairman John Carlin said the board hired a consultant more than a year ago to evaluate the agency’s salaries. The consultants found that the salaries were in the 75th percentile, Carlin said. “You get what you pay for,” Carlin said. “And if we are in the middle of investing half a billion dollars, do we want to go cheap in terms of staff?”
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