Sunday • December 15, 2002

Data shows shrinking pay, growing gaps

By Karen Nolan

Six years ago, I started throwing The Reporter's salary survey numbers onto computerized spreadsheets. Doing so, I figured, would make it easier for us to track year-to-year changes in wages and benefits. Eventually, I hoped, we might even do some long-range comparison.

Now seems like a good time to do the latter. This is The Reporter's 25th survey, after all, even if it took us 28 years to get here.

Fortunately, I've been able to find the survey figures we published in 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997, and along with this year's numbers, that means we have data in five-year increments for the past 25 years.

Well, some data anyway. In the earliest days of the survey, all we counted was base pay. It wasn't until the late 1980s that we began to add in benefit costs, and even today we can't seem to get everyone to report those. (I am pleased to say, however, that this year's survey includes for the first time the taxpayers' contribution toward judges' medical benefits, CMF manager's retirement packages and Solano County's share of Social Security costs.)

But even the limited data shows many changes during the course of 2 1/2 decades.

Since 1977, Vacaville has added 58,000 residents - nearly twice as many as lived here in 1977 when the population stood at 34,300. In that same time, Solano County grew from 197,500 to 405,800 people.

More people means more work for our public agencies, and given the 230 percent rise in the cost of living, it's little wonder that our government managers are commanding greater salaries.

Or are they?

Surprisingly, some public managers are losing ground.

In 1977, Solano County paid its judges $45,299 a year - 4.5 percent more than what the Solano County administrator made. The judges and the administrator's salaries remained comparable until 1992, when the county administrator got a $10,000 bump. Today, the county administrator makes 40 percent more than a Superior Court judge.

Sure, the county population has doubled, giving the county administrator more responsibility. But the number of judges hasn't doubled, and where there was one judge for every 22,000 people in 1977, there is one for every 25,000 people today. Adjust those 1977 salaries for inflation, and you'll find today's judges make 6.8 percent less than they did 25 years ago. In contrast, the county administrator makes 36.4 percent more.

Another example of shrinking paychecks and growing gaps can be seen in the Vacaville Unified School District where, in 1977, the superintendent was paid about 33 percent more than an elementary school principal. Today, based on the $140,000 salary being proffered by the district as it seeks to fill the top position, the superintendent would make 44.2 percent more than an elementary school principal.

Adjust for inflation, and you'll find that the next superintendent will garner a salary that is at least 36.4 percent bigger than it was in 1977, while those principals are making 2.7 percent less.

Consider this as well: While the superintendent's salary has gone up 12.2 percent in the last five years, principals are making 13.5 percent less - a decline that comes at a time when principals have been under historic pressure to raise school test scores.

In the city of Vacaville, the pay gap between the city manager and other department heads has closed through the years. In 1977, the city manager was making about 31 percent more than the average department head, while today that difference is 24.5 percent. The gap between the county administrator's base salary and that of other top county managers has stayed about the same: 30 percent.

But pity Vacaville's City Council members, whose annual stipends haven't been raised since 1988. When adjusted for inflation, their annual pay is worth 13.5 percent less today than it was 25 years ago - and 16.4 percent less than it was worth five years ago.

Another set of numbers that proves interesting is the percent of women in management. In The Reporter's very first salary survey, back in 1974, only 8 percent of the 119 top managers were women. This year, women hold 40 percent of the 729 positions reported.

At five agencies - all school districts - more than half the top managers are women. The Benicia Unified School District has the highest percentage of women managers: 65 percent.

Lest anyone think that figure is lopsided, please note that 23 agencies have more than 65 percent male managers, and even today seven have only men in the top positions.

Which agency is the most balanced? Surprisingly, the answer is California State Prison, Solano, where half the managers are women.

The author is a weekly columnist, sits on The Reporter's editorial board and has compiled the newspaper's salary survey for the last six years.