Survey scrutinizes public payroll

By Karen Nolan/Reporter Staff

Salary Survey 2003 Salary list
Benefits, not base salaries, stand out as the true story in The Reporter's 26th Survey of Top Public Servants' Pay, published in today's edition.

But when you put the two together, records are broken. Consider the salary and compensation package of Solano County Administrator Michael Johnson, the first manager on our survey to ever break the $300,000 mark.

Johnson's pay package of $347,840 is more than seven times greater than that of the lowest-paid manager on the list, Suisun Cemetery District Manager Ron Wear, whose total compensation package was $47,798.

Reporters contacted 30 public agencies in October, asking for information about salaries and benefits for top managers.

We expected to find that health care and retirement costs had gone up in the last year, and we did.

We also expected to see pay increases holding a tight line, given the dire straits of California's economy. But not every public agency got that message, it would seem. Some agencies granted hefty pay increases - between 10 percent and 17 percent - for top managers in the last year, and not only because they took on new or expanded duties.

Others, especially school districts, were far more frugal, extending tiny pay hikes, if any. By way of comparison, the cost of living has gone up about 2 percent during the past year.

We've added one new feature this year: a list of the top 20 pay packages among Solano's public agencies.

For years we've listed the highest base salaries, under headings that have reflected a steadily rising number. But when we put together this year's "$150,000 Club," we realized that, more and more, base pay isn't a completely accurate reflection of costs to taxpayers. Benefits and perks add substantially to the price of public employment.

To illustrate this point: Nine people with total compensation packages costing taxpayers more than $200,000 have base salaries of less than $150,000. Conversely, 16 managers - including nine judges - who made this year's $150,000 club did not have overall compensation packages large enough to be included in the new list.

This is the second year we've worked with our sister newspaper in Vallejo to gather pay information about the entire county. Times-Herald reporters surveyed agencies in Vallejo and Benicia and will share their own report in their newspaper at a later date. The Reporter has been publishing salary surveys since 1974.

In addition to today's print version, all of the lists and stories will be available online by 5 p.m. Monday at www.thereporter.com.

City Editor Robin Miller also contributed to this report.