Earlier quoted context omitted.
could you explain what was the disaster ? You had huge uproar from existing employees once they found out that company is willing to pay more to newer employees OR not enough candidates applied for the job posting with salary information ?
Highly qualified individuals were not applying to jobs that they were perfect for.
If they were not applying because salary ranges were too low for them they would have ended up rejecting your offer in any case. So to me it looks like you saved time and resources on stray leads.