Sunday • December 15, 2002

The Reporter offers latest installment in our ongoing review of public pay

By Tanya Mannes/Reporter Staff

There is no more confusion about who is the highest paid government manager in Solano County.

One year ago, deciding who held that title depended on how the terms were defined. Then, County Administrator Michael Johnson had the highest base salary in The Reporter's annual survey of public managers' pay. But Vacaville City Manager John Thompson earned more when particulars such as longevity pay, retirement contributions, and health and dental benefits were factored into the calculation.

With today's publication of the 25th Survey of Top Public Servants' Pay, the title bout has been settled and Johnson has emerged as king of the public pay hill. Johnson's 10.3 percent pay raise earlier this year brought his base salary to $195,535 - some $9,200 more than the base pay the federal government affords to the vice president of the United States. Factoring in his other benefits brings Johnson's total compensation package to $285,921.

In two weeks, that number will grow even more as the Solano County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to grant Johnson yet another 5 percent pay hike to his base salary. It will now grow to $205,312 - the first time a public servant's base salary in Solano County has topped the $200,000 mark.

Thompson still holds the second-highest spot on the survey, with all things considered. His base salary of $157,839 coupled with other benefits bring his total compensation package to $241,781.

There are a few new additions to the silver anniversary of The Reporter's annual survey.

First, readers will notice that Vallejo and Benicia figures are included for in this year's list.

The Reporter teamed up with its sister publication, the Vallejo Times-Herald, to go after the additional material. That newspaper will print the same agency-by-agency breakdown in its first-ever salary survey.

And there is another change since last year. The Reporter's "$125,000 Club" is now the $150,000 Club. Six years ago, only three top managers were paid more than $100,000; two years ago, when the list became crowded, the cut-off was raised to $125,000. Now there are so many public employees whose base salary tops even that figure the bar was raised again - and the new list contains 16 names.

It would be unfair, however, to say all public employees are so handsomely compensated.

In fact, there are a number of public managers who earn less than half of what those at the top of the list are paid, and some even choose to forgo pay entirely.

Consider Cordelia Fire Protection District Chief Lewis Brochard, whose $700 monthly stipend will remain as is, even though voters recently authorized a tax increase to fund his department. Or the cemetery managers who toil in obscurity for small paychecks. "I think I deserve more money, but I don't think the district can afford it," said one.

And there are many board members throughout Solano County who decline even a token stipend.

That's not to say that highly effective public servants don't deserve a bigger piece of the pie. The salary survey found that seemingly generous compensation is, in some cases, markedly less than an administrator might earn in the private sector.

On the other hand, public employees enjoy greater job security, and their strong unions negotiate benefits that in many cases are better than many of those in corporate positions have.

Individual exceptions abound, but most agencies that offered raises in the past year - and many didn't - generally kept them in the 4 percent range.

That's not to say managers aren't taking home more money in their paychecks. Some enjoyed the fruits of labor negotiations that resulted in employers - the taxpayers, in this case - picking up that portion of the retirement contribution required of employees. It was an amenable tradeoff for many agencies, which have not had to pay much, if anything, into the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), thanks to that agency's investment abilities in recent years.

Most, but not all, local agencies reported an increase in health benefits, reflecting the higher cost of providing medical coverage that has been noticed in the private sector as well. For some agencies, the increased costs were miniscule, while others were hefty - 15 percent to 20 percent in some cases.

Overall, the cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area rose by 1 percent in the past year.

Readers should note that all figures in the survey are rounded to the nearest dollar and in some case the total figure may be off by $1.

Agencies contacted this year were cooperative in providing management salary information - the Solano County Mosquito Abatement District was the first to respond - but at least one newcomer seemed a tad concerned about how the information might be presented.

Accompanying the list of salary information provided by the city of Vallejo was a summary of "givebacks" by City Manager David Martinez. By declining membership payments, canceling conferences and not using a relocation expense account - expenses that in past years were paid by the city - Martinez' "total savings/givebacks over the past three-plus years" was $21,000, said the document, which also included quotations from previous published Times-Herald stories that praised his "example" and "leadership."

Reporter correspondent Karen Nolan contributed to this report. Tanya Mannes can be reached at tanya@thereporter.com.