City Hall salaries, benefits dwarf those in private jobs

The average wage for city hall jobs is far higher in Modesto and across California than pay pulled down by normal joes and janes in the private sector, a free-market think tank said Tuesday with the release of a database allowing comparisons among many agencies throughout the state.

For example, median pay for full-time workers at Modesto City Hall topped $73,000 in 2014 – nearly 70 percent more than the $43,260 median wage for private-sector jobs in Modesto, Transparent California reports.

Modesto’s top 10 list of 2014 wage earners was dominated by Fire Department administrators, thanks to overtime pay. Average full-time compensation at the Modesto Fire Department, including overtime and health benefits, came to $144,088, higher than the $137,221 average for firefighters in Fresno, a city with more than twice the population.

Modesto Police Department employees took home an average of $124,599 in total 2014 compensation, besting the $123,346 average paid to Stockton police and $120,028 for Fresno police.

“Reporting full compensation reveals a shocking inequity between city employees and the taxpayers who must bear the cost,” said Robert Fellner, Transparent California’s research director. Generous benefit packages “that have no comparison in the private sector” help bloat city hall pay “at the expense of both cities and taxpayers,” he said.

The service is a project of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, whose public compensation database is the largest in California.

It says that the three highest-paid 2014 city employees in The Modesto Bee’s coverage area all worked in Turlock: former City Manager Roy Wasden ($295,000), who retired Monday; City Attorney Phaedra Norton ($283,728); and police Chief Rob Jackson ($262,534). Turlock’s population is one third the size of Modesto’s.

By comparison, Roger VanHoy and Casey Hashimoto – former general manager and general manager, respectively, at the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts – made $345,467 and $294,177 the year before, in 2013. Updated numbers for those agencies and other special districts are expected out early next year.

A spokesman with the California State Controller’s Office said its website, with similar information on 2014 pay, will be updated next week. That government source lists employee positions without naming names, which TransparentCalifornia.com does.

Clicking on the think tank’s Modesto page, for example, shows fire Chief Sean Slamon as Modesto’s top city earner in 2014 with total compensation of nearly $260,000, following by police Chief Galen Carroll at $253,773. Carroll received no overtime, however, unlike all firefighters; for example, fire Capt. Jesse Nicasio received $60,641 in 2014 overtime pay in addition to regular salary of nearly $87,000.

Transparent California provides additional analysis, including computing the cost of a city worker to each resident in a given city. For example, people in Modesto each pay about $496 for the average City Hall worker; in Merced, the cost is $509; and in Manteca, $556.

Not all agencies responded to Transparent California’s requests for information submitted under the California Public Records Act. Its database on Tuesday was missing 2014 numbers from Stanislaus County government and from four of its nine cities: Ceres, Riverbank, Patterson and Hughson. In Merced County, the cities of Livingston and Dos Palos are not included.

Transparent California received data from Stanislaus County and from Ceres after The Modesto Bee on Tuesday asked administrators with those agencies why they had not responded. Riverbank and Merced County sent their information Monday. All arrived too late for inclusion in this report.

Numerous studies comparing public and private earnings have proved “contentious ... when you take it all in, the public sector is often outperforming the private sector,” said Leonard Gilroy, director of government reform at Reason Foundation based in Los Angeles.

Other findings in The Bee’s analysis, using data from the website:

▪ In terms of total compensation – wages plus health benefits and employer cost of retirement – Modesto pays nearly $104,000 per city worker. Turlock and Lathrop pay more, about $111,000 each, as do Manteca ($128,150) and Atwater ($126,000).

▪ Excluding benefits and retirement costs, Modesto’s average city salary edges Turlock’s, $76,879 to $75,882.

▪ The West Side cities of Gustine and Newman pay the least in the Northern San Joaquin Valley in total compensation: $87,323 and $81,249, respectively.

▪ Waterford’s employees cost its residents only $144 each – a bargain compared with $740 in Lodi and $623 in Tracy.

▪ Cities in The Bee’s coverage area all paid less than the statewide average of $130,370 for total compensation, among 395 cities responding to Transparent California.

▪ The statewide employee cost per resident – $857 – also is far higher than any for local cities.

▪ Likewise, the difference between public- and private-sector pay is higher elsewhere in California – 96 percent, on average – than all cities in this region, except for Atwater (125 percent).

▪ Ripon was the only local city where the private wage exceeded that at City Hall, by 2 percent.

▪ Statewide, 19 percent of city workers’ compensation comes from overtime.

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 7:14 PM with the headline "City Hall salaries, benefits dwarf those in private jobs."