HARRISBURG -- As Gov. Tom Corbett prepares to swing his budget ax on state spending, there is one area in which he has made few, if any, trims: the salaries of his top staffers.

While Mr. Corbett has a smaller inner circle of executive and high-level aides than former Gov. Ed Rendell, he is paying them more money for their work, according to records provided by the administration.

Mr. Corbett is spending $27,069 less than his predecessor on those salaries, even as he prepares to make steep cuts in next year's state budget to help offset a projected $4 billion deficit.

It is unclear whether Mr. Corbett has finished staffing his office. Spokesman Kevin Harley said the governor is "primarily done" hiring.

According to records provided by the governor's office, Mr. Corbett has 16 people working in executive or top-level positions. Their salaries total just under $ 2.07 million.

Mr Rendell, in contrast, had 18 high-level staffers working for him at the start of 2010. Their combined salaries were just over $2.09 million.

The difference: $27,069.

The average salary for an executive staffer under Mr. Corbett is $129,303 as opposed to $116,440 for top aides to Mr. Rendell.

Mr. Harley pointed out that his boss's overall payroll -- including all aides in Harrisburg and four regional offices -- is $213,000 less than his predecessor's.

Overall, Mr. Corbett employs 55 people who are paid a total of $4.3 million a year. Mr. Rendell, meanwhile, spent $4.5 million on 61 staffers.

"The governor made a conscious decision to pay the fairest market value to attract the best available talent," Mr. Harley said in an e-mail message Friday. "The point is not how much the governor is spending -- although clearly he is spending less. The question is 'How much is the governor wasting?' That number is zero."

Of Mr. Corbett's four deputy chiefs of staff, two are paid $135,000 and two make $145,000. Mr. Rendell paid his deputy chiefs of staff between $95,000 and $136,000.

Mr. Corbett's secretary of legislative affairs, Annmarie Kaiser, is paid $135,003. Her equivalent under Mr. Rendell, Colleen Kopp, took in $107,345.

And Mr. Corbett is paying the top aide in the first lady's office $93,008. Mr. Rendell paid $75,267 for the job.

Mr. Corbett added one position that was not part of the Rendell administration: energy executive.

Patrick Henderson was tapped for the $105,018 job created to advise the governor on energy issues as the natural gas drilling industry takes hold in the Marcellus Shale region.

The new governor also has hired a special assistant, Brian Westmoreland, at $119,000. He previously worked for the Office of Attorney General as Mr. Corbett's body guard. His tasks now include helping with logistics during public events, keeping the governor on schedule, and coordinating with outside agencies, groups and organizations.

The only other staffer with the title of special assistant is Dennis Roddy, a former Post-Gazette reporter who is being paid $100,030 to write speeches, develop communication strategies and provide policy advice.

Mr. Rendell had four special assistants. They were paid between $70,005 and $125,614.

Mr. Harley, the governor's spokesman, has a $145,000 salary, making him among the highest paid staffers. But Mr. Harley does two jobs -- that of communications director and press secretary. Under Mr. Rendell, those positions were held by two people and cost taxpayers $198,573.

Government watchdogs say Mr. Corbett should be looking to reduce his own payroll to set an example for other areas of government, especially in tough economic times.

"He's going to be cutting the heck out of government," said Tim Potts, co-founder of the activist group Democracy Rising PA, who noted that state workers already have gone four years without pay raises. "If you're expecting people who actually make government work to sacrifice, and if you're expecting citizens who depend on state services to endure cuts, then you certainly should expect to share in that."

Mr. Harley didn't comment on that issue.

Political scientist and analyst Chris Borick said he believes Mr. Corbett is missing an opportunity to show he is more fiscally responsible than his predecessor.

"When you talk about making fiscal discipline the cornerstone of your administration, you open yourself to criticism if you don't produce savings in the areas you have direct control over," said Mr. Borick, an associate professor and director of the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

"It's paramount for the governor, in terms of his broader credibility, to make a clear statement that he's exercising the same fiscal discipline that he's been talking about for the state as a whole," Mr. Borick said.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Corbett often skewered the Rendell administration for what he characterized as out-of-of control spending and misguided priorities. At the same time, Mr. Corbett made a no-new-tax pledge, which means that as he looks to balance the budget, he will have to lean heavily on spending cuts.

As governor, Mr. Corbett has the ability to set the salaries of his executive staff, as well as most aides, from administrative assistants to schedulers to top deputies.

The salaries of cabinet members are set by statute, so Mr. Corbett's nominees earn the same as did Rendell's cabinet secretaries.

Starting in 2008, however, Mr. Rendell asked his cabinet to return cost-of-living increases that were coming due. Mr. Rendell did so as well.

When Mr. Rendell left office, he was being paid $170,914, even though the statutory salary was $174,914. Because of a scheduled 1.9 percent cost of living increase for 2011, it shot up to $177,888 in January.

Mr. Corbett, for his part, has decided not to take the 2011 increase and is being paid $174,914. He has said he will instead give the money to charities around the state.

His cabinet secretaries, too, will forgo their cost of living increases for 2011, according to the governor's Office of Administration.