Milligan: Next SBA chief may need to earn big bucks

Former Comptroller Bob Milligan - the interim executive director of the State Board of Administration - told his bosses on Tuesday morning that they may need to pay the successor to Coleman Stipanovich a lot more money than Stipanovich was earning.

Milligan suggested a quick look at pay of investment managers may require the SBA to pay between $300,000 and $350,000, which is almost double what Stipanovich was earning. That would ensure that the state could attract someone with private sector experience in managing investments during the national search that Milligan says he will conduct to find a permanent replacement to Stipanovich.

Gov. Charlie Crist told Milligan he wasn't so sure about paying that high a salary, saying that no one goes into public service to make a lot of money. But Attorney General Bill McCollum said he is "sympathetic" to the idea that the state may have to pay more money to hire a replacement for Stipanovich.