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Stunning data on compensation for municipal employees in Bay Area

Information
14 February 2015 Elena Miramar Print Email

More than 2,000 North Bay municipal employees earned at least $200,000, according to figures released by Transparent California.

Hayward Battalion Chief earned $428,457 ----

Government employees in the San Francisco Bay Area are earning huge salaries and overtime pay that is significantly higher than that of workers in non-government jobs. Malcolm E. Miller, Oakland Police Officer, earned $436,256. George R. Silva, Hayward Battalion Chief, earned $428,457.

More than 2,000 North Bay municipal employees earned at least $200,000, according to figures released by Transparent California. The data show that average full-time compensation for employees of 55 North Bay cities was $130,172 in 2013. The North Bay region had the highest averages, but other areas of that metropolis and the state as a whole also featured extraordinary wages.

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.

Other notable findings include:

* 488 North Bay municipal employees earned at least $50,000 in overtime alone.

* Angel Bobo, Richmond Fire Captain,, made $279,105 in overtime and $508,893 in total compensation.

* Marc Palechek, Richmond Fire Captain, made $241,578 in overtime and $450,942 in total compensation.

Most of the North Bay cities listed in the released data are not wealthy, and some, like Richmond, are considered poor and troubled. Vallejo, which pays a fire captain 450K, went through bankruptcy and laid off a substantial portion of its police force. In Berkeley, there are almost fifty city employees earning over a quarter of a million dollars.

“North Bay civil servants averaging $130,000 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.”

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:

* South Bay: $141,739

* Greater Los Angeles: $119,462

* Northern California: $108,269

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.