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What We Pay Our Leaders

More than 50 make the list of Solano's $100,000 club

By Mike Adamick/Staff Writer

Solano County Administrator Michael Johnson earns the highest base salary of public agency managers in the county, but Vacaville City Manager John Thompson receives the largest total compensation package, according to figures compiled for The Reporter's 22nd Salary Survey.

Seventy managers, including federal legislators who represent the region, were earning more than $100,000 in base salaries, according to figures compiled in October and November. That's 24 more than made the unofficial list last year. Some of that increase is attributable to salary increases. Others were added to the list because of better reporting procedures.

Among the top 20 public employees whose base salaries exceed $100,000, half work within the city limits of Vacaville, either at the two state prisons or for the city government.

And for the first time since The Reporter began its survey in the mid-1970s, a public employee is ready to crest the $150,000 base salary mark. Johnson, whose 1999 base salary was $143,280, will earn $150,444 next year, thanks to a 5 percent raise approved last week.

Add in the health insurance, retirement and other benefits the county pays, and Johnson's 1999 compensation package (somewhere between $167,629 to $171,002) already has topped that mark.

Vacaville's Thompson earns a total compensation package worth $192,518 to $196,457, which includes his base salary of $140,961. The exact amount is unknown since the city, citing employee confidentiality, won't give specific information about the amount it pays for health insurance. Still, it is in longevity pay that Thompson — who has worked for the city since 1979 — benefits most. The 15.76 percent bonus he earns in longevity pay added $22,215 to his salary this year.

Public employees throughout Solano County received healthy raises this year, but most public entities won't suffer too much because of savings passed on through smaller contributions to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).

Most local agencies use CalPERS to provide retirement benefits for all employees, including managers. Both the worker and the employer are expected to pay into the system, although many agencies customarily, or by contract, pay part or all of the employee contribution, in most cases about 7 percent of salary.

The employer contribution varies each year, based on the projected retirement costs, and has reached as high as 14 percent. It was substantially less than that this year.

Fairfield's employer contribution for 1999 has been zero, and the city has placed that savings in a special revolving fund to hire more employees, said Finance Director Bob Leland.

In Vacaville, according to Finance Manager Ken Campo, the employer contribution is only 2 percent for safety employees, down from 6 percent last year, and 1 percent for other full-time employees, down from 4 percent.

"It does give us some flexibility when we're budgeting," Campo said, adding the funds can be used for one-time expenditures. However, he added, increased medical benefits has eroded some of the savings.

Raises may also have taken up some of the savings.

Public managers received a variety of pay hikes in the past year, depending on what type of work they do and for whom they do it, but flush economic times appear to equal fatter paychecks.

In Vacaville, City Manager Thompson received a 9.2 percent pay increase, while City Attorney Charles Lamoree was granted a 9.4 percent pay boost. A group of more than 80 mid-level managers will receive annual 6 percent pay increases, as called for in a five-year contract approved recently.

In Fairfield, department heads received a 2.5 percent pay increase, while assistant directors received 1.5 percent more. Some managers, however, earned 5 percent salary step increases on top of other raises.

In Dixon, most managers received about 2.5 percent pay hikes, while Finance Director Margaret Lefebvre and City Clerk Janice Beaman each earned 13 percent raises. Their positions also allow for periodic step increases.

As always, procuring information from public entities for The Reporter's annual glimpse into the public pocketbook is challenging. While most agencies are forthcoming about base pay, there remains some reluctance to provide detailed information about benefits. That makes it difficult to accurately compare total compensation packages.