Sacramento Metro Fire Captain paid $1.1 million over the past four years
Today, Transparent California released 2015 public employee compensation data — complete with names, pay, and benefits — for over 100,000 special district workers statewide.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District (Metro Fire) captain Randall Wootton earned $1.1 million over the past four years — thanks to consistently receiving more overtime (OT) pay than any other Metro Fire employee.
2015 was Wootton’s fourth year in a row as Metro Fire’s highest OT-earner, having collected at least $108,000 in OT every year since 2012:
Year |
Base Pay |
Overtime Pay |
Other Pay |
Total Pay |
2012 |
$98,028 |
$108,333 |
$34,766 |
$241,127 |
2013 |
$98,028 |
$113,997 |
$38,703 |
$250,728 |
2014 |
$98,832 |
$180,018 |
$37,194 |
$316,045 |
2015 |
$98,832 |
$129,966 |
$77,999 |
$306,797 |
The three highest compensated Metro Fire employees were:
- Battalion chief Charles Jenkins Jr: $412,422
- Fire captain Stephen Craig: $381,638
- Battalion chief Randall Hein: $379,606
Transparent California research director Robert Fellner noted that overall OT spending declined 2 percent from the previous year, despite the astronomical payouts made to a select few employees.
“It was refreshing to see the chief acknowledge the problem of excessive overtime after last year’s report was released, but this new data makes clear that there is still much work to be done.”
Pay up 10% at SMUD
Sacramento’s largest special district — the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) — spent over $273 million on employee compensation last year, 10 percent more than what was spent in 2014.
The three highest compensated SMUD workers were:
- Chief executive officer and general manager Arlen Orchard: $491,380
- Chief power supply and grid operations officer Paul Lau: $383,138
- Chief financial officer Jamey Tracy: $383,078
Compensation is defined as total wages plus the employer cost of retirement and health benefits. Full-time, year-round employees are defined as those receiving a salary equal or greater to 90 percent of the “annual salary minimum” reported.
To explore the data further, please visit TransparentCalifornia.com
To schedule an interview with Transparent California, please contact Robert Fellner at 559-462-0122 or Robert@TransparentCalifornia.com.
Transparent California is California’s largest and most comprehensive database of public sector compensation and is a project of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a nonpartisan, free-market think tank. Learn more at TransparentCalifornia.com.