A state legislative leader said he hoped that Tennessee's lottery would pay its top officials less than top executives at the Georgia lottery were paid when Rebecca Paul was director there.

Paul, the new Tennessee lottery director who officially came from Georgia this week, had a dozen lottery vice presidents working for her in Georgia ⬠five of them earning $151,000-$180,000 a year, including bonuses.

''That seems to be on the high side,'' said state Sen. Ron Ramsey of Blountville, Senate Republican Caucus chairman. ''That's higher than what anyone else in state government would be making.''

Most Tennessee government department heads ⬠the commissioners who make decisions â¬earn $92,376 a year, although there are exceptions that allow higher pay. Most second-tier executives ⬠deputy and assistant commissioners ⬠earn between $75,000 and $85,000 although, again, there are exceptions.

In South Carolina, which is the nation's newest lottery until Tennessee starts selling tickets, an executive director and chief operating officer run the organization. They have six directors, who make $82,400-$111,240. None is eligible for bonuses.

Paul, whose salary as Tennessee lottery director could reach $752,500 this year, said she had not yet decided on the executive structure she will recommend to the lottery board, which has the final decision on staffing and compensation.

Nor, Paul said, does she yet know the salaries she will recommend for her top executives, but she added, ''I would hope we will pay competitive salaries.''

Members of the lottery board's human resources committee might meet as early as today to begin discussing staffing and salaries.

Paul is working to hire six to eight people who have lottery experience for the senior-level positions, making it unlikely that they will be Tennesseans.

First up is a vice president for human resources, a position that she said she hoped to have filled by today.

When asked if she expected the Tennessee lottery to be competitive with what Georgia pays, she said, ''That's something the board needs to talk about.''

Paul's own salary places her atop all other lottery chiefs in the nation and has come under some criticism.

She was paid $500,000 at Georgia's lottery last year ⬠a $290,000 base plus a $210,000 bonus.

Paul's base salary in Tennessee, $350,000, was set by adding 20%-25% to what she made in Georgia, which board members said was a customary practice used by recruiting firms.

Board members have not said if they plan to use that practice in recruiting vice presidents or if those vice presidents will be eligible for bonuses.

Ramsey, who complained that Paul's compensation was ''obscene,'' said he understood the realities of paying market rates for salaries, but he questioned whether lottery executives should be the highest-paid people in state government.