HARRISBURG — Some of Pennsylvania's community college presidents earn more than their counterparts at state-owned universities, according to records the colleges are now required to make public.

Philadelphia Community College President Stephen Curtis earns the most — about $240,000 a year in base pay.

Curtis' base pay is higher than the annual salaries of all but one of the presidents of the 14 state-owned universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Next on the list are Allegheny County Community College President Alex Johnson, who makes $221,450, and Montgomery County Community College President Karen Stout, who makes $210,000. Edna Baehre, president of Harrisburg Area Community College, earns $209,600.

Nick Neupauer, president of Butler County Community College, made $132,000 in the first year of his contract.

The highest paid state system university leader is Indiana University of Pennsylvania President Tony Atwater, who earns $253,428 a year.

The lowest paid is Maravene Loeschke, president of Mansfield University, at $189,195.

To some extent, the community college leaders' paychecks reflect higher-than-average longevity, said Diane Bosak, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.

Baehre has spent about 12 years as president, while Curtis has served more than nine years and Stout about eight; Johnson has been president just over a year. Nationally, the average community college president serves four years, Bosak said.

"It is certainly an issue of recognizing an individual's commitment to that institution by ... compensating them for the job that they've done," Bosak said. "The presidents of the colleges that have had any longevity all have overseen tremendous growth in their institutions."

Community colleges were required to make presidents' salaries public for the first time under the state's Right-to-Know Law, which took effect Jan. 1.