Great Wages in California Government

Posted by Jack

In Redding there are 43 city employees making over 100k a year. In Los Angeles 6000 plus city workers earn over $100k, excluding lavish overtime and costly benefits. More than two-thirds of these workers were from the police, fire department or city attorney’s office.

Some government officials and experts contend that it is necessary to boost the pay of many managerial positions in order to attract and retain skilled workers as they are perfectly capable of getting lucrative job offers in the private sector. The best-paid workers in the state outside the UC system are mostly doctors/psychiatrists working in mental illness institutions, judges, and investment managers working in CalPERS, who on an average make more than $130,000 to $200,000 a year. Others earn hefty paychecks by logging overtime in hard to fill jobs like working with prisoners or the mentally ill.

Data also showed that 73 public workers earned more than $200,000 through overtime that exceeded their standard base salary. Nurses, fire fighters, police officers all accounted for this. Several California Highway Patrol officers in the San Francisco Bay Area earned more than $80,000 each in overtime alone. On an average police captains received $306,000 in pay and benefits, police lieutenants received $247,644, and the average for firefighters including overtime is $171,000. And the highest paid: San Francisco’s Water District manager makes over $400k a year.

Currently, California’s Supreme Court judges and Appellate court justices are the highest paid in the nation, earning more than $171,648 a year as base salary plus tens of thousands in taxes and benefits. From taxpayer funded cars and gas to tax free money for living expenses, the California judges are living the high life while the deficit continues to grow.

Los Angeles City Council members saw their pay rise 36 percent since 1997, to $133,051, making them the highest-paid council members in the nation. Currently at $178,789, Los Angeles City Council salaries are still the highest in the nation. The average Department of Water and Power worker made $76,949 a year, nearly 20 percent more than the average civilian city worker. More than 13% of the DWP workers are paid above $100,000.

Thanks to the fiasco in Bell, CA. the State Treasurer is considering publishing the to wages on the State payroll despite the objections from several cities who refused to cooperate with a recent state wage study.

Gee, at these wages you would think everyone would want to become a civil servant!