Greater San Diego Municipal Employees Earned Average of $114,000 in 2013

Greater San Diego Municipal Employees Earned Average of $114,000 in 2013

Transparent California Releases Detailed Public Employee Compensation Data for 405 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 405 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 16 Greater San Diego cities was $114,329 in 2013, with hundreds earning more than $200,000 a year and hundreds more making at least $50,000 in overtime alone.

City of San Diego employees are not included in the average, because while San Diego employee pay data are now on Transparent California, San Diego didn’t provide the cost of pension benefits provided to its employees. In the nearby City of Chula Vista, the cost of benefits for a full-time employee is $34,199. Excluding the cost of benefits, the average San Diego government employee made $73,881 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 San Diego and the rest of California – as well as for special districts like fire and water – click here.

Other notable 2013 Greater San Diego findings include:

• 204 Greater San Diego municipal employees earned at least $200,000.

o   Penny Riley, Poway City Manager, earned $345,255.

o   James Sandoval, Chula Vista City Manager, earned $338,182.

o   Williford H. Douglas, El Cajon City Manager, earned $325,978.

• 337 Greater San Diego municipal employees earned at least $50,000 in overtime alone.

o   Edward A. Cormode, San Diego Firefighter, made $183,347 in overtime and $228,105 in total compensation, excluding pension contributions.

o   Jeff T. Gantz, San Diego Fire Engineer, made $158,089 in overtime and $223,791 in total compensation, excluding pension contributions.

o   Gary S. Emerson, San Diego Fire Engineer, made $155,925 in overtime and $211,386 in total compensation, excluding pension contributions.

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 Los Angeles: $119,462
  • 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

“San Diego civil servants averaging $114,000 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 from over 2,000 California government agencies.

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.