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| 2008/7/11-13 [Politics/Domestic/California, Industry/Jobs] UID:50537 Activity:high |
7/11 Regarding the below discussion about "overpaid" government
employees, here is a result of a search on all programmers
who work for the State Board of Equalization:
http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/766730.html
As you can see, the pay is below industry standard.
\_ You know who makes way too much in California? Firefighters.
Screw those guys. Just as soon as they're done fighting the 3000
simultaneous fires going on now all over the state and turning
my sunset a pleasant red, I expect a full auditing of their
overtime and massive firings.
\_ If they have to work that much overtime then maybe they need
to hire more firefighters. However, I bet the unions won't
allow that. There are lots of people lining up to be
firefighters and there are no positions to be had, yet these
guys work crazy overtime (which has to be unsafe). They
won't accept making their base salary amount, though, which
is what they'd have to take if enough were hired.
\_ My take all along has been that IT is one of the *few* areas that
the government underpays, which is probably why so many of you
think that government pay is low.
\_ Never worked for the government I see.
\_ Never lived in DC I see.
\_ Show me a job title and employer where the pay is high then:
http://www.sacbee.com/statepay
All I see is mediocre (at best) pay levels.
\_ How about an OC detective making $221K?
\_ Unsourced anecdotal evidence is pretty weak. I presented
you with a database with tens of thousands of salaries,
now go make your case.
\_ Happy?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputies14-2008may14,0,1117569.story
"The average salary for federal employees is
$60,517... the Washington, DC area has an average
salary of $78,593."
(Source: http://www.fedsmith.com/article/687
"The top overtime recipient was sheriff's
investigator Theodore R. Harris, who made $120,000
in overtime, bringing his total pay to $221,000"
(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputies14-2008may14,0,1117569.story
(Source: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lxapl [la times])
"City workers' average salaries will reach about
$68,850 for civilians and $93,800 for sworn police
and fire by July - placing them in the upper ranks
of comparable cities and far higher than
private-sector workers."
(Source: http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_9221826?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
(Source: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lb8s9 [daily news])
"What was not reported was her annual salary,
which, according to a database published by the
Daily News, is $104,000. Another DWP mother in
attendance was Wendy Ramallo, the wife of Joe
Ramallo, who, according to the database, makes
$167,478 per year.
By the way, if those two drove to the meeting, they
probably drove a car you own. You see, all DWP
employees with six-figure incomes get, in addition
to their salary, a free car, paid for by you, the
taxpayer/ ratepayer.
Sara Perez and Jo-Del Navarro also spoke out, but
they "only" make $86,025.60 and $72,620 per year."
(Source: http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/1032
"As the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
seeks a hefty taxpayer rate hike, a Daily News
review of salary data shows the average utility
worker makes $76,949 a year - or nearly 20 percent
more than the average civilian city worker.
More than 1,140 of the utility's employees - or
about 13 percent - take home more than $100,000 a
year. And General Manager Ron Deaton, who is on
medical leave, rakes in $344,624 a year making him
the city's highest-paid worker.
DWP salaries are on average higher than city and
far higher than private-sector workers'"
(Source: http://tinyurl.com/6xctu5 [laist])
LWDP database showing painters making $79K:
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/?appSession=735104577589687
http://preview.tinyurl.com/64ubs3 [dailynews]
Feel free to search for your own job titles at:
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/
Even "CUSTODIAL SERVICES ATTENDANTS" make $46K.
"Have you heard about the fire captain in the city
of San Diego who made $242,138 in one year? How
about the city lifeguard who made $138,787? It's
all true - and if you thought the city of San Diego's
pensions were generous, wait until
you see how much some city workers are being paid."
"For years, the city's powerful unions and many
city officials have claimed city workers are
underpaid - using the official salary
schedules published in the budget as their
evidence. It is time that the public be told
exactly what city workers are paid. Taxpayers
should not have to rely on an institute to dig up
the information using W-2 data. City departments
(such as the Fire Department) also put "phantom
positions" in their budget to hide off-budget
expenses such as excessive overtime. Mayor Jerry Sanders
recently discovered that 400 or more salaried positions
are not even included in the budget each year."
(Source: http://tinyurl.com/pz5wo [sd union tribune])
\_ "The average salary for federal employees is
$60,517... City workers' average salaries will reach
about $68,850 for civilian workers..." Sorry, those
numbers just don't seem that exorbitant to me, do
they to you? Perhaps there are a few departments where
employees are overpaid (and it sounds like DWP is
one of them) but to extrapolate from that to all
they to you? Perhaps there are a few departments
where employees are overpaid (and it sounds like DWP
is one of them) but to extrapolate from that to all
government employees is bad logic. I do not
begrudge someone getting paid 2X a normal salary
if they do 80 hrs/week of work and I don't
understand why you would either. It does sound like
their boss needs to hire someone new, but this is
their boss needs to hire an extra person, but this is
not always possible, as should be obvious if you
stop to think about for even a second.
\_ 1. It depends on the job being done. For an
accountant maybe not. For a simple clerk,
painter, or custodian then yes. The
argument was that gov't employees are
underpaid and that is clearly untrue. They
don't have to have 'exorbitant' salaries
for that to be untrue. I make $100K and I
don't have a free car, for instance.
2. I gave data for all federal employees, so
we don't have to extrapolate.
3. Do you really think these people are doing
80 hours/week of work based on the hours
gov't offices keep and your experiences in
working with the city/county? For
instance, in San Diego they get every
other Friday off. And they are still
working crazy OT? No way. It's a farce
caused by lax auditing. Why are people who
make $100K per year getting any overtime
at all? At my company (and most companies)
people at that level are exempt and we just
suck it up or quit. The article is making
a point that "phantom positions" are
created to perpetuate this overtime fraud.
The gov't will never hire appropriately
because it would be akin to a pay cut for
the workers. It's easier to continue with
the status quo because you have an excuse
why you are behind on work (short-staffed)
and make the paper salaries seem small.
4. Like I said, I have two sisters working
for the gov't and it's easy money. My one
sister is very honest and she always says
she doesn't have enough work to do and
asks for more and they tell her she needs
to stop working so hard and just enjoy it,
except she gets bored. She's an executive
secretary (which means she is the personal
secretary for a high-level engineer) and
she makes $70K. In another 4 years (will
have been 20 years) she can retire with
50% of her salary and free medical for
life. I don't begrudge her that, but let's
be honest about how that compares to being
a secretary at, say, Wells Fargo (where my
mom worked for many years) where those
benefits are non-existent and you would be
lucky to make $40K in that position. Put
the 'government employees are underpaid'
thing to rest. At worst, they are
compensated as well as anyone else and
usually better.
\_ You're talking a lot, but you're not
saying anything.
\_ You're a moron who can't read.
\_ Since you are the king of making up things
to support your position, I need a lot more
than "the friend of my sister-in-law over
heard at a party" kind of data. Give me a
job description and a state department and
show me a sector of employees in the
in the State of CA database. All of the data
is there for the world to see, surely if
public sector workers are so overpaid, you
can find at least one of them. $60k/yr for
a mid-career teacher, police officer or
skilled craftsman seems very reasonable,
even underpaid, to me. The majority of
local spending is on education, public
safety and public works, so that is where
the majority of employees are going to come
from. The rest of your comments are mostly
not worth replying to, but I will note that
if these jobs are so great, why aren't people
lining up to fill them? There is a chronic
shortage of police officers and teachers in
CA, hardly indication that they are overpaid.
http://http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t03.htm
Note that total overtime pay is .4% of
overall salary, so your opinion that
overtime pay in the public sector is
ubiquitous is clearly wrong headed.
\_ Plug in "exective assistant" for the
Dept of Water Resources and you will see
pay varies from $39k to $48k. |
| 5/25 |
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| www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputies14-2008may14,0,1117569.story Subscribe Overtime boosts many OC sheriff's deputies' pay above $100,000 The bulk of the department's overtime went to employees at county jails. By Stuart Pfeifer and Christine Hanley, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers May 14, 2008 Boosted by what some officials consider to be out-of-control overtime spending, two-thirds of Orange County sworn sheriff's deputies earned more than $100,000 last year, according to records obtained by The Times. Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson said he was so concerned by the figures that he has ordered monthly reports on overtime usage and vowed to launch disciplinary reviews of any deputies who exceeded the department's limit of 24 overtime hours per week. Going up Twenty-seven deputies were paid more than $75,000 in overtime last year, a figure Anderson said could have been reached only by deputies violating the department overtime rule. The top overtime recipient was sheriff's investigator Theodore R Harris, who made $120,000 in overtime, bringing his total pay to $221,000 -- more than then-Sheriff Michael S Carona and all five members of the county Board of Supervisors. To reach that pay level, he had to work an average of more than 30 hours of overtime per week. Harris, one of four deputies who earned more than $100,000 in overtime last year, worked most of his overtime on patrol assignments, leaving his investigator's desk for a patrol car. Concern about the deputies' overtime pay comes shortly after the release of transcripts from a grand jury investigation that found some deputies at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange had napped or watched television while on duty, allowing handpicked inmates to discipline other prisoners. During that time, inmate John Derek Chamberlain was beaten to death while a deputy assigned to supervise him instead watched the television show "Cops" in his glass-enclosed guard booth. Anderson said a shortage of deputies has forced the department to fill shifts with deputies working overtime. One jail wing at Theo Lacy is budgeted for 40 full-time employees but staffed exclusively by deputies working overtime, some driving from other stations to fill the shifts. Last year, 1,122 sworn sheriff's employees were paid more than $100,000 -- more than triple the number reaching that level in 2003. Anderson said he could not explain why managers within the department allowed so many deputies to exceed the department's 24-hour-per-week overtime limit. He said the department is now preparing monthly overtime reports that will make it easy for managers to determine how much overtime their deputies are working. County officials and law enforcement experts said they were concerned that working excessive amounts of overtime would make it difficult for deputies to perform their jobs effectively. Supervisor Chris Norby said he intended to address overtime spending later this month during interviews of the nine finalists vying to replace Carona, who resigned in January to focus on his upcoming criminal corruption trial. The board will appoint his replacement June 3 "There's a reason we don't want them to work too much overtime. We look forward to appointing a permanent sheriff who will have the credibility to establish long-term policies." George P Wright, chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Santa Ana College, said law-enforcement executives should consider the personal toll that excessive overtime places on officers. "I wouldn't allow a person to work more than one overtime shift per week. And if he was doing it continuously, week after week after week, I'd look at it," Wright said. You might be able to do that two or three months and then you hit the wall and something bad happens." In June 2007, a civil grand jury reviewing jail conditions after Chamberlain's death recommended the Sheriff's Department expand its hiring program to reduce the need for deputies on overtime. The jury concluded the money would be better used to cover the full-time salaries. "The advantage of using overtime is that no additional pension or healthcare benefits must be paid," the grand jury wrote. "However, this savings is offset by the additional cost of overtime pay and the stress that overtime work could, in the long run, result in an increase in sick leave and poorer job performance." Anderson said the only way that he can keep Building B open -- it houses more than 500 inmates -- is to continue to staff it with deputies working overtime. When the court keeps sending you people, you have to find room for them," Anderson said. Wayne Quint, president of the union that represents Orange County sheriff's deputies, said he believes they should be applauded for volunteering for overtime shifts, not ridiculed or investigated. And $100,000 a year is not unreasonable pay for a peace officer, he said. They're filling a public safety position every time they work overtime," Quint said. |
| www.fedsmith.com/article/687 -> www.fedsmith.com/article/687/ on the cost of gas and the mileage reimbursement rate included a sentence about the average salary of federal employees. The article noted that the average salary for federal employees is $60,517. Several readers wondered where this figure came from and questioned its accuracy. " I don't doubt the person submitting the comment is correct about the average for his or her office but that does not mean the salary figures for the "average" federal employee are incorrect. average household income in the United States, according to the Census Bureau, was $44,389. Keep in mind that the average compiled by OPM is the average for full time federal employees--it is not compiled by household. There are considerable differences between geographic regions for several reasons including locality pay and higher grade structure. For example, the Washington, DC area has an average salary of $78,593. This figure is much higher than other areas and the DC area also has the largest number of federal employees in the country. Keep in mind that these figures are as of March 2004 so the averages will be higher when OPM releases the 2005 pay figures. As one would expect, there is also considerable difference between occupations in the federal government and the salaries received. human resources specialist in the federal government made $66886 in 2003. Labor relations specialists made an average of $72915 while employee relations specialists made $63345. Enter above code here Note: Your comments will not show up right away. com selects the most insightful comments from our readers for posting. If selected, your comments will show up in the comments section after they have been reviewed and approved. Submit Comment Readers' Comments * Yet another example of why the system doesn't accurately reflect what it should. Posted: December 6, 2006 7:01 PM * If you are a Wage Grade employee in the D C area you will make less money than a Wage Grades in many other areas because the WG pay scale is based on industry in the surrounding area and there is a lack of industry in the DC area. Posted: December 6, 2006 1:00 PM * dear postal clerk quit your whining. have you looked at how much you have to pay for your health insurance compared to what a regular fed employee makes. and except for your own employees killing each other you have an exceptionally safe job. for me to make $50000 i would have to put in hundreds of ... |
| preview.tinyurl.com/5lxapl -> www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputies14-2008may14,0,1117569.story Subscribe Overtime boosts many OC sheriff's deputies' pay above $100,000 The bulk of the department's overtime went to employees at county jails. By Stuart Pfeifer and Christine Hanley, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers May 14, 2008 Boosted by what some officials consider to be out-of-control overtime spending, two-thirds of Orange County sworn sheriff's deputies earned more than $100,000 last year, according to records obtained by The Times. Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson said he was so concerned by the figures that he has ordered monthly reports on overtime usage and vowed to launch disciplinary reviews of any deputies who exceeded the department's limit of 24 overtime hours per week. Going up Twenty-seven deputies were paid more than $75,000 in overtime last year, a figure Anderson said could have been reached only by deputies violating the department overtime rule. The top overtime recipient was sheriff's investigator Theodore R Harris, who made $120,000 in overtime, bringing his total pay to $221,000 -- more than then-Sheriff Michael S Carona and all five members of the county Board of Supervisors. To reach that pay level, he had to work an average of more than 30 hours of overtime per week. Harris, one of four deputies who earned more than $100,000 in overtime last year, worked most of his overtime on patrol assignments, leaving his investigator's desk for a patrol car. Concern about the deputies' overtime pay comes shortly after the release of transcripts from a grand jury investigation that found some deputies at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange had napped or watched television while on duty, allowing handpicked inmates to discipline other prisoners. During that time, inmate John Derek Chamberlain was beaten to death while a deputy assigned to supervise him instead watched the television show "Cops" in his glass-enclosed guard booth. Anderson said a shortage of deputies has forced the department to fill shifts with deputies working overtime. One jail wing at Theo Lacy is budgeted for 40 full-time employees but staffed exclusively by deputies working overtime, some driving from other stations to fill the shifts. Last year, 1,122 sworn sheriff's employees were paid more than $100,000 -- more than triple the number reaching that level in 2003. Anderson said he could not explain why managers within the department allowed so many deputies to exceed the department's 24-hour-per-week overtime limit. He said the department is now preparing monthly overtime reports that will make it easy for managers to determine how much overtime their deputies are working. County officials and law enforcement experts said they were concerned that working excessive amounts of overtime would make it difficult for deputies to perform their jobs effectively. Supervisor Chris Norby said he intended to address overtime spending later this month during interviews of the nine finalists vying to replace Carona, who resigned in January to focus on his upcoming criminal corruption trial. The board will appoint his replacement June 3 "There's a reason we don't want them to work too much overtime. We look forward to appointing a permanent sheriff who will have the credibility to establish long-term policies." George P Wright, chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Santa Ana College, said law-enforcement executives should consider the personal toll that excessive overtime places on officers. "I wouldn't allow a person to work more than one overtime shift per week. And if he was doing it continuously, week after week after week, I'd look at it," Wright said. You might be able to do that two or three months and then you hit the wall and something bad happens." In June 2007, a civil grand jury reviewing jail conditions after Chamberlain's death recommended the Sheriff's Department expand its hiring program to reduce the need for deputies on overtime. The jury concluded the money would be better used to cover the full-time salaries. "The advantage of using overtime is that no additional pension or healthcare benefits must be paid," the grand jury wrote. "However, this savings is offset by the additional cost of overtime pay and the stress that overtime work could, in the long run, result in an increase in sick leave and poorer job performance." Anderson said the only way that he can keep Building B open -- it houses more than 500 inmates -- is to continue to staff it with deputies working overtime. When the court keeps sending you people, you have to find room for them," Anderson said. Wayne Quint, president of the union that represents Orange County sheriff's deputies, said he believes they should be applauded for volunteering for overtime shifts, not ridiculed or investigated. And $100,000 a year is not unreasonable pay for a peace officer, he said. They're filling a public safety position every time they work overtime," Quint said. |
| www.dailynews.com/search/ci_9221826?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com Email Los Angeles city workers drive budget gap By Beth Barrett Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 05/11/2008 02:10:01 AM PDT As Los Angeles grapples with its largest budget deficit in history, lucrative compensation packages for thousands of city workers are driving much of the gap, and there's little end in sight. While city leaders seek to close a looming $406million budget shortfall with everything from fee hikes to service cuts, a Los Angeles Daily News review of salary data shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more than $100,000. City workers' average salaries will reach about $68,850 for civilians and $93,800 for sworn police and fire by July - placing them in the upper ranks of comparable cities and far higher than private-sector workers. And the escalating salaries have emerged as a crucial issue in the city's current financial crisis as the mayor and others have called for cutting nearly 800 positions and enforcing mandatory furloughs for city workers to try to trim the shortfall. About 75 percent of the climb in payroll, or roughly $90million, is being charged to the general fund - the same amount the mayor has said he wants to raise in higher fees for everything from parking to golf. "Nobody to my knowledge Advertisement in the history of Los Angeles has ever actually cut their salary (versus passing up cost-of-living increases)," said David Fleming, former chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. If we're expecting the taxpayers to endure some pain, then everybody should." With the city's financial crisis looming and potential ripple effects set to hit thousands of Angelenos, the Daily News reviewed city workers' salaries using a database obtained from the City Controller's Office under the California Public Records Act. Late last year, the Daily News reviewed the city's third proprietary department - the Department of Water and Power - and found that even as it sought to hike utility rates, the average DWP worker made $76,949 a year - nearly 20 percent more than the average civilian city worker. The review comes as the budget crisis also has reignited debate about a contract deal Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council approved late last year that gives thousands of workers double-digit raises over the next five years. Even while city leaders were approving the deal, however, they also were receiving reports of a looming budget deficit and economic downturn. At least six months before Villaraigosa and the council granted the Coalition of LA City Unions the five-year deal worth raises of 23percent for its 22,000 workers in October, local economists said they had warned city officials of a deteriorating local economy. |
| preview.tinyurl.com/5lb8s9 -> www.dailynews.com/search/ci_9221826?IADID Email Los Angeles city workers drive budget gap By Beth Barrett Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 05/11/2008 02:10:01 AM PDT As Los Angeles grapples with its largest budget deficit in history, lucrative compensation packages for thousands of city workers are driving much of the gap, and there's little end in sight. While city leaders seek to close a looming $406million budget shortfall with everything from fee hikes to service cuts, a Los Angeles Daily News review of salary data shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more than $100,000. City workers' average salaries will reach about $68,850 for civilians and $93,800 for sworn police and fire by July - placing them in the upper ranks of comparable cities and far higher than private-sector workers. And the escalating salaries have emerged as a crucial issue in the city's current financial crisis as the mayor and others have called for cutting nearly 800 positions and enforcing mandatory furloughs for city workers to try to trim the shortfall. About 75 percent of the climb in payroll, or roughly $90million, is being charged to the general fund - the same amount the mayor has said he wants to raise in higher fees for everything from parking to golf. "Nobody to my knowledge Advertisement in the history of Los Angeles has ever actually cut their salary (versus passing up cost-of-living increases)," said David Fleming, former chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. If we're expecting the taxpayers to endure some pain, then everybody should." With the city's financial crisis looming and potential ripple effects set to hit thousands of Angelenos, the Daily News reviewed city workers' salaries using a database obtained from the City Controller's Office under the California Public Records Act. Late last year, the Daily News reviewed the city's third proprietary department - the Department of Water and Power - and found that even as it sought to hike utility rates, the average DWP worker made $76,949 a year - nearly 20 percent more than the average civilian city worker. The review comes as the budget crisis also has reignited debate about a contract deal Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council approved late last year that gives thousands of workers double-digit raises over the next five years. Even while city leaders were approving the deal, however, they also were receiving reports of a looming budget deficit and economic downturn. At least six months before Villaraigosa and the council granted the Coalition of LA City Unions the five-year deal worth raises of 23percent for its 22,000 workers in October, local economists said they had warned city officials of a deteriorating local economy. |
| www.citywatchla.com/content/view/1032 E-mail View from Here By Walter Moore Tuesday, while you and I were at work trying to earn enough to keep the lights on and a roof overhead, approximately 50 women who work at the DWP found the time to attend a meeting of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners concerning the lactation program. Their appearance in the middle of the day was apparently authorized, and perhaps orchestrated, by David Nahai, a lawyer whom Villaraigosa recently made General Manager of the DWP. The DWP mothers were furious that anyone had the audacity to challenge the DWP's use of taxpayer/ratepayer funds to produce a 56-page request for proposals to provide lactation services to DWP employees. According to news reports, one of the mothers who wants you to pay not just her salary, but also for a DWP lactation specialist, was Evelyn Cortez-Davis. What was not reported was her annual salary, which, according to a database published by the Daily News, is $104,000. Another DWP mother in attendance was Wendy Ramallo, the wife of Joe Ramallo, who, according to the database, makes $167,478 per year. By the way, if those two drove to the meeting, they probably drove a car you own. You see, all DWP employees with six-figure incomes get, in addition to their salary, a free car, paid for by you, the taxpayer/ ratepayer. Excuse me for asking, but why can't these people, whose annual income is higher than the median income for our city, pay for their own lactation services? Having already paid them a hefty salary, why must you also pick up the tab for other services to make their lives easier. After all, you could use that same money to make your own life easier. Taxpayers and ratepayers should not have to foot the bill for a duplicative lactation program within the DWP itself, when there are dozens if not hundreds of programs available throughout the county. If the DWP mothers had spent 90 seconds on Google instead of, say, leaving work for 90 minutes to attend the meeting, they would have found lactation programs galore, including, for example, the Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles, where they could download an informative pamphlet entitled, "A Mother's Ten Steps To Successful Breastfeeding." The issue isn't the desirability of breast-feeding, anger management, yoga, physical training, or of having a nanny, valet, "gofer" or butler. The money we pay for water and power should pay for water and power. We should not be charged to set up, within the DWP, programs that duplicate those readily and widely available elsewhere - especially when the DWP, having just transferred a $215 million cash "surplus" to City Hall, is raising our rates again. In short, if the DWP employees want lessons on how to operate their breasts, let them dig into their own pockets this time, not yours and mine. |
| tinyurl.com/6xctu5 -> laist.com/2007/10/04/the_dwp_is_ripping_you_off.php raise rates, hide money, and allow themselves to get rich. In the last few weeks the public utility has been exposed for a few troubling trends and actions that we quietly await to see what Mayor Tony, and our other elected officials, will do about it. On Sunday the LA Daily News discovered that over 1,100 employes at the DWP are paid over $100k: As the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power seeks a hefty taxpayer rate hike, a Daily News review of salary data shows the average utility worker makes $76,949 a year - or nearly 20 percent more than the average civilian city worker. More than 1,140 of the utility's employees - or about 13 percent - take home more than $100,000 a year. And General Manager Ron Deaton, who is on medical leave, rakes in $344,624 a year - making him the city's highest- paid worker. DWP salaries are on average higher than city and far higher than private-sector workers' even as the utility has come under fire for recent power outages and another round of rate hikes: A 9percent, three-year electric-rate hike and a 6 percent, two-year water-rate hike. Today the Daily News reports that in April the DWP sued you and I for the right to divert their $30 million in profits into the city general fund so that it could be used for non-DWP pockets. It was intended as a pre-emptive strike to win a nearly decade-long battle over the legality of such transfers that in recent years have ranged from $100 million annually to twice that much. Los Angeles officials sought to get the court to declare the transfer legal and allow them to proceed without the threat of a lawsuit, although a state Supreme Court ruling last year raised questions about the practice's constitutionality. In July - just 18 days before the deadline for opposition - the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles filed a response to the city's filing, and the case is pending. Daily News Should it really take the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to have their shit together enough to stop the DWP from stealing millions of profits while asking (and getting) rate increases? Everyone's angry because they make $30k more than most other city workers? I think that's a pretty important job and by paying higher salaries, we make the jobs more valued than say, Public Works. Yes, let the head of DWP make more than the mayor, the head of police, the head of the fire department... Let them increase our rates while we "flex our power" and suffer rolling blackouts. The average DWP employee makes the maximum LAUSD teacher's salary. It's not about dragging down DWP employees, it's about preventing excess and abuses of the system. But hey, if you're willing to pay higher rates so some DWP guy can hit $100K / year, be my guest. |
| lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/?appSession=735104577589687 SOUND OFF: Has the DWP shown that it's worth the taxpayer dollars it receives? |
| preview.tinyurl.com/64ubs3 -> lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/?appSession=735104577589687 SOUND OFF: Has the DWP shown that it's worth the taxpayer dollars it receives? |
| lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries -> lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/ SOUND OFF: Has the DWP shown that it's worth the taxpayer dollars it receives? |
| tinyurl.com/pz5wo -> www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060312/news_lz1e12demaio.html By Carl DeMaio March 12, 2006 Have you heard about the fire captain in the city of San Diego who made $242,138 in one year? It's all true - and if you thought the city of San Diego's pensions were generous, wait until you see how much some city workers are being paid. Illustration by Val Mina As the public's awareness and outrage over excessive pension packages for city workers continues to grow, city officials and the powerful unions claim that while the pensions may seem generous, city workers are "underpaid" when it comes to their annual compensation. To see if that claim was indeed true, the Performance Institute asked the city for a list of the 1,000 highest paid city workers. At first officials referred us to the city's budget - the document available to the public where salaries are published for every city worker. Not content to believe what this city publishes in its budget, we asked for hard data from the actual W-2 wage information reported to the IRS. What we found provides even more evidence that a gravy train is servicing the top managers of the city and members of the most powerful municipal union - all at the expense of taxpayers. City employee membership in what the institute calls the "$100,000 Club" has skyrocketed over the past three years. In the midst of the city's financial crisis, the number of city employees earning $100,000 or more a year has climbed from 483 in 2003, to 644 in 2004, and hit 753 in 2005. What's worse, when comp overtime is factored into total compensation, the number of city employees receiving net compensation value of more than $100,000 a year jumps to 955. That's in a city with a total known work force of 10,700. One final aspect of city employee compensation is not accounted for in our study: disbursements under the notorious Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) whereby city employees can retire "in place" and collect both their annual compensation with the city on top of a full retirement. At last count there were over 1,000 DROP accounts still active within the city's pension system. Add those disbursements to the compensation reported in our study, and membership in the city's $100,000 Club skyrockets. It is a safe bet to assume at his seniority he is likely in DROP - allowing him to collect an additional $93,000 that year as his DROP retirement payment is calculated at 90 percent of his base salary. If this lucky fire captain really worked the city's gravy train, he could conceivably collect in the neighborhood of $330,000 in annual compensation courtesy of San Diego taxpayers. The salary list also demonstrates excessive compensation across the city's Fire Department, which is represented by what is arguably the city's most powerful union. In fact, firefighters comprise nearly half the membership in the "$100,000 Club" at City Hall. When comp overtime is factored into total compensation, the number of firefighters receiving net compensation value of more than $100,000 a year jumps to 371 - that's 40 percent of the active city firefighters earning six figures or more. Of the firefighters who made the "$100,000 Club," many ended up taking in between $35,000 and $45,000 in overtime during one year. One fire engineer alone was awarded $74,028 in overtime. All this excessive overtime is not only unfair to taxpayers and drives our city deeper into financial crisis, but also it is a threat to public safety. San Diego is a high-risk environment with wildland fires, earthquake faults, a major port and foreign border all adding to traditional urban public safety challenges. The city's fire response times are not within the national standards and its equipment is antiquated. The city needs to invest in both public safety infrastructure and add new firefighters. Imagine how much equipment or how many more fresh firefighters (not fatigued by working excessive hours) the city could afford if the Fire Department reined in excessive overtime. The city budget claims an entry-level Firefighter 1 position is paid $39,084. A quick glance at the list of top paid firefighters in 2005 shows that 52 individual firefighters collected this amount or more in overtime alone - funds that could go to hiring new Firefighter 1 positions. But don't get too excited: in an active firefighter force of 869 budgeted firefighter positions, the city offers only 20 at this bargain rate salary level. Firefighters deserve to be paid well, they put their lives on the line for our community. Nevertheless, we must compensate all city workers within our financial means and according to reasonable and competitive pay rates. These findings point to the larger issue driving the city's financial woes. Labor costs (salaries plus benefits) now consume a whopping 78 percent of the city's General Fund budget - up from 71 percent in 1990. Had the city held its labor costs to that same proportion of the budget over this same period, it would have an extra $55 million this year alone to invest in more firefighters, library books, public safety equipment, and other vital resident services. What can and should be done to fix the problem of runaway labor costs in the city? Honest budgeting: For years, the city's powerful unions and many city officials have claimed city workers are underpaid - using t he official salary schedules published in the budget as their evidence. It is time that the public be told exactly what city workers a re paid. Taxpayers should not have to rely on an institute to dig up the information using W-2 data. City departments (such as the Fire Department) also put "phantom positions" in their budget to hide off-budget expenses such as excessive overtime. Mayor Jerry Sanders recently discovered that 400 or more salaried positions are not even included in the budget each year. Fortunately, the mayor has committed to producing an honest budget this year. Control excessive overtime: The management of Fire Department and other city departments with high overtime rates must exercise proper controls to limit overtime. Unfortunately, there seems to be no leadership commitment to accomplish this. In fact, when I first raised the issue of excessive overtime with Fire Department officials in 2004, they confessed that the department actually encourages overtime rather than hiring more firefighters as a way to "save money." The Fire Department has shown it can crack down on overtime when pressured to. That was for 2004 - and the Institute released that figure immediately when we found it and have used it since as a symbol of what was wrong with City Hall. Reacting to pressure, Fire Department officials trimmed his overtime in 2005 - resulting in him taking home a mere $176,843 in 2005. Reform pension and fringe benefits: To support its policy of excessive overtime, the Fire Department claims that the city's current pension and benefits packages make hiring additional firefighters expensive - as nearly 40 cents for each dollar of base salary must be allocated to cover these employee fringe costs. To contain labor costs, a new fair and affordable pension system must be created. As the mayor has proposed, any pension benefit increases should be put to a public vote. To address the cost of the old pension system, employees should be required to contribute their fair share (a 50-50 match) to cover the cost of their pension benefits as many private plans require. Managed competition: Mayor Sanders has introduced and championed a final key tool needed to contain labor costs: managed competition. This reform will require city workers to demonstrate efficiencies in various support services through a competitive bidding process. Similar managed competition programs across the nation have saved an average of 15 percent of the cost of a given service - largely through process efficiencies and reducing the number of workers needed to carry out a task. They did not create the current gravy train, but will continue to ride it unless taxpayers demand real reforms. Old guard city politicians and powerful union bosses continue to claim that the pension benefits and salaries are appropriate, if not low. Their only solution is place more burden on San... |
| www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t03.htm Navigation Links BLS News Release Washington, DC 20212 DOL Logo BLS Home | Programs & Surveys | Get Detailed Statistics | Glossary | What's New | Find It! This table presents data for the three major occupational groups in State and local government: management, professional, and related occupations, including teachers; Service-providing industries, which include health and educational services, employ a large part of the State and local government workforce. Includes premium pay for work in addition to the regular work schedule (such as overtime, weekends, and holidays). Comprises the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. Telephone: (202) 691-6199 | Fax: (202) 691-6647 Do you have an ECT data question? |
| www.sacbee.com/statepay -> www.sacbee.com/1098/story/738462.html E-Mail | | Search for a state worker's salary To find a state employee, use the form below. You can now also search by job title, salary range or agency, so long as you at least enter a last name or pick an agency or university. UC athletic coaches Top 5 salaries Notes: UC figures represent the actual amount paid to each employee during the 2006-2007 fiscal year. Figures for non-UC workers reflect their current salary level, as of February 2008. All UC employees making less than $20,000 -- mostly student workers -- are excluded. Results for non-UC workers do not include temporary, intermittent or part-time employees. Annual salary results include only base pay -- not overtime, bonuses, benefits. To determine employees' annual salaries, the Bee multiplied their monthly base salary as of February 2008 by 12; please note that job status or classification can change or an employee could work fewer hours in a particular month, which would affect their annual base pay. Click on "details" after your search results appear to see gross pay and overtime pay for UC workers. Gross pay for UC Workers includes overtime, bonuses, housing allowances and multiple other forms of cash compensation. |