On the list are 59,926 employees who worked at some point for the state in the fiscal year that ended June 30.  Of those, 4,276 were either fired or quit before the end of the year and 12,017 made less than $15,000 a year, an indication that they were either part-time workers or had only worked part of the year.

New Data: Latest Salary figures for Iowa state employees

Almost 70 percent the remaining 43,633 workers made $47,177 or more, which was the median Iowa household income in 2010, the latest data available through the U.S. Census Bureau.

The information may be highlighted in coming months as Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration negotiates new union contracts, a process that takes place every two years.

Branstad and union members are already at odds even before beginning those talks after the governor called for state employees to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums. Branstad initiated a program this year that allows workers to voluntarily pay the extra costs, which unions continue to challenge as an illegal violation of labor contracts.

Currently 88 percent of state employees pay no health premium and, if they did, it would save taxpayers more than $100 million a year, Branstad has argued. Unions, in turn, have said state benefits help counter lower pay that many employees receive versus jobs in the private sector.

But Branstad’s administration has presented evidence that calls into question the pay gap argument. A report released Tuesday that was commissioned by the state shows the base pay of state employees averages 17.9 percent higher than pay for comparable workers elsewhere in the marketplace.

Union leader Danny Homan has criticized the study, calling into question its accuracy. The study selectively compares the salaries to just 13 states and 14 businesses, he notes.

Other highlights from the state salary database:

University coaches remain among Iowa’s best-paid state employees, with University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz’s salary at $3.7 million. That’s up from $2.9 million four years ago.

1,895 employees made more than Gov. Terry Branstad, who is paid a base salary of $130,000.

State employees were reimbursed for almost $46.1 million in travel expenses. The most to a single employee was $78,943 to Joseph Cortes, a scientist at Iowa State University. A 2010 press release from the school announced that Cortes was part of a group working with the University of Nairobi in Kenya in a program designed to increase food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

Total salary paid to the nearly 60,000 employees in the database was $3.022 billion.