Greater Los Angeles Municipal Employees Earned Average of $119,000 in 2013

Greater Los Angeles Municipal Employees Earned Average of $119,000 in 2013

Transparent California Releases Detailed Public Employee Compensation Data for 400 Cities and 826 Special Districts Statewide

TUSTIN – Today, Transparent California released previously unseen 2013 public employee compensation data – complete with names, pay, and benefits – for 400 cities and 826 special districts statewide on TransparentCalifornia.com, the state’s largest public sector compensation database.

The data show that average full-time compensation for employees of 150 Greater Los Angeles cities was $119,462 in 2013, with thousands earning more than $200,000 a year and thousands more making at least $50,000 in overtime alone.

City of Los Angeles employees are not included in the average, because while LA employee pay data are now on Transparent California, LA didn’t provide the cost of pension benefits provided to its employees. In the nearby City of Orange, the cost of benefits for a full-time employee is $30,573. Excluding the cost of benefits, the average LA government employee made $92,575 in pay.

Such compensation is significantly higher than that of peers in the private sector.

To view the comprehensive compensation database for municipal employees of Greater Los Angeles and the rest of California – as well as for special districts like fire and water – click here.

Other notable 2013 Greater Los Angeles findings include:

• 4,174 Greater Los Angeles municipal employees earned at least $200,000.
  • Johnny A. Baltazar, Los Angeles Police Officer, earned $500,930.
  • Rodney S. Gould, Santa Monica City Manager, earned $483,954.
• 2,156 Greater Los Angeles municipal employees earned at least $50,000 in overtime alone.
  • Donn D. Thompson, Los Angeles Firefighter, made $242,033 in overtime and $354,259 in total compensation.
  • Charles F. Ferrari, Los Angeles Fire Captain, made $240,229 in overtime and $367,293 in total compensation.
  • Martin Enriquez, Los Angeles Fire Captain, made $222,766 in overtime and $351,642 in total compensation.

Notable 2013 statewide findings include:

• Average full-time municipal employee compensation statewide was $120,569.
• 11,203 municipal employees took home over $200,000 with 3,661 making over $50,000 in overtime.
• Average full-time municipal employee compensation for other regions in California were:
  • North Bay: $130,172
  • South Bay: $141,739
  • Greater Sacramento: $109,785
  • Central Valley: $99,678
  • Greater San Diego: $114,329
  • Northern California: $108,269
  • Central Coast: $111,784

Notable 2013 special district findings include:

• Average full-time special district employee compensation was $106,592.
• Average full-time special district compensation for the top five districts were:
  • San Ramon Valley Fire Protection: $245,624
  • Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District: $237,424
  • Montecito Fire Protection: $214,363
  • Woodside Fire Protection District: $211,998
  • Central County Fire Department: $208,583

“Los Angeles civil servants averaging $119,000 a year in compensation means that the term civil servant is no longer appropriate,” said Mark Bucher, president of the California Policy Center. “Meanwhile, comparable workers in the private sector have seen their compensation stagnate as an ever-greater amount of their take home pay is diverted to fund these lavish government compensation packages.”

Transparent California also released summary pages for individual cities and counties, which include median government employee and cost per resident. Those pages are available by going to a city or county page and clicking the “View Summary” link.

Transparent California is the largest database of California public employee and retiree compensation with names and now contains over 7.7 million records.

To schedule an interview with California Policy Center president Mark Bucher, please contact Jordan Bruneau at (916) 258-2396 or jordan@transparentcalifornia.com.

Transparent California is a project of two nonpartisan, free-market think tanks, the California Policy Center and Nevada Policy Research Institute. Learn more at www.TransparentCalifornia.com.