Median pay for city of Modesto employees tops six figures. What’s behind the increase?
The median annual pay for a full-time Modesto city employee was $106,787 last year, which is the first time pay has topped six figures, according to public records.
Human Resources Director Christina Alger said a change in the city’s compensation philosophy and the need to hire and keep good employees are behind the rise in pay.
Modesto can afford to pay more after voters approved Measure H, a 1% sales tax increase, in November 2022. The tax is expected to bring in $42.8 million this year to the city’s roughly $237 million general fund.
The median pay rose from about $70,000 to about $76,000 from 2014 to 2019, according to Transparent California, a website that tracks public employee compensation statewide. Median pay increased to $89,612 in 2020, then $90,903 in 2021 and $94,109 in 2022.
The pay for 2023 includes bonuses of as much as $7,500 paid to full-time employees who worked during the pandemic. The bonuses cost $6.55 million and came from $45.9 million the city received in federal pandemic relief funding.
The median is the halfway point, so half of the city’s 1,008 full-time employees were paid more than $106,787 last year and half were paid less. The $106,787 includes employees’ base pay plus overtime, incentive, longevity and other pay. It does not include the cost of employees’ pensions and other benefits.
For context, Modesto’s median household income was $73,275 in 2022, according to the Census Bureau. The bureau reported a median income of $50,643 in 2022 for what it calls nonfamily households, which is someone who lives alone, with roommates or other people who are not family. The median income for 2023 was not available.
Public safety pay is a big part of the increase
Alger said Modesto had been paying its employees 15% below the median of what comparable city and county governments paid their employees. Those comparable governments include Livermore, Stockton, Sacramento, Turlock and Stanislaus County.
Modesto’s compensation philosophy reflected the city’s finances still recovering from the effects of the housing crash and Great Recession of more than a dozen years ago.
Alger said the city moved from 15% below the median to 10% in 2016 and then to 7.5% in 2018 and 5% in 2023, though firefighters and police officers are now paid the median.
She said the attrition rate among civilian employees has dropped from 15.9% to 10.6% in the last two years, while the attrition rate for police officers and firefighters has dropped from 15.4% to 5.1% over the same time.
Pay for firefighters and police officers — from the chiefs to the newest rookies — is a big part of the rise in city compensation. Firefighters and police officers made up about 35% of the city’s 1,008 full-time employees in 2023.
The average pay for a police officer was $106,024 in 2019. That breaks down to $78,251 in salary, $19,097 in overtime and $8,676 in other pay. The average pay was $151,392 in 2023 on a salary of $97,735, overtime of $40,029 and other pay of $13,628. This does not include pay for detectives, sergeants, lieutenants and captains.
The average pay for a fire captain was $138,912 in 2019, with a salary of $93,200, overtime of $31,017 and other pay of $14,695. The average pay was $202,499 in 2023, with $116,848 in salary, $63,660 in overtime and $21,991 in other pay. This does not include pay for firefighters, fire engineers, battalion chiefs and other fire managers.
More raises are in store
Alger said the pay for the city’s civilian workers has increased from about $76,000 to about $81,000 since the City Council approved labor agreements in 2023.
The City Council a year ago approved an agreement with the Modesto Police Officers Association that includes raises of 17% over four years. It also approved agreements with three labor unions representing its civilian workers that call for pay raises of 13% over four years. All of the agreements include other enhancements, such as a 2.5% pay increase for having a bachelor’s degree.
And in June, the council approved an agreement with the Modesto Fire Fighters Association that includes raises of 21% over four years as well as other increases to their pay.
This story was originally published July 18, 2024 at 12:12 PM.
