A good reason not to emulate San Francisco
The bureaucrats down there enjoy some seriously fat paydays:
San Francisco is a true municipal gold mine when it comes to pay. The days when the headline-grabbing "$100,000 club" was made up of a handful of top managers and overtime earners are long gone.Last year, city controller's records show, roughly a quarter of the city's 36,000 full- and part-time workers made more than $100,000 - without overtime.
And 195 workers and execs made more than $200,000.
The highest-paid was Police Chief Greg Suhr, who made $321,522. Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White came in second, at $314,759, followed by a slew of police and fire deputy chiefs.
Mayor Ed Lee checked in at No. 27, with $260,547.
This year's cash-out prize went to outgoing police Capt. John Goldberg, who got $245,999 for his unused sick and vacation time, bringing his yearly pay to $350,403.
And their pensions are probably based on those salaries. No wonder California is broke.
| Posted at 12:45 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
(P. J. O'Rourke)
Posted by al m | February 21, 2013 2:16 PM
And the pensions in SF are every bit as nice as the salaries.
Heather Fong retired as police chief at age 53 and collects $277,656 a year.
Posted by Randomx | February 21, 2013 2:28 PM
"No wonder California is broke" pretty much says it all. Remember the town of Bell?
Posted by G Joubert | February 21, 2013 3:43 PM
"Remember the town of Bell?"
AP:
The unschooled and illiterate former mayor of the scandal-ridden suburban city of Bell had no training that would have alerted him that his huge salary was illegal, his lawyer told a jury in closing arguments Thursday.
Former Mayor Oscar Hernandez didn't have a college or high school degree and didn't even finish elementary school, defense attorney Stanley Friedman said at the corruption trial.
Hernandez is among six former Bell city officials charged with misappropriating funds. He was earning just under $100,000 a year for the part-time job.
Posted by Randomx | February 21, 2013 3:50 PM
Don't worry, 2 days before Obama leaving office (or maybe the election), I see an executive order giving Cali $1T of "stimulus" money.
Its just money and we don't want to p!ss off the public employee unions since they are top priority when it comes to spending.
Posted by Steve | February 21, 2013 4:23 PM
Heather Fong retired as police chief at age 53 and collects $277,656 a year.
And when she dies her husband will may suffer greatly by only getting half of it as a surviving spouse.
Oh the injustice.
Posted by Anon | February 21, 2013 4:47 PM
And plenty of others, too.
Posted by Sam T. | February 21, 2013 5:02 PM
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
(P. J. O'Rourke)"
You can say that again!
Posted by TheOtherDave | February 21, 2013 5:53 PM
$277,656 is almost enough to afford living there, but not quite. I doubt she lives in the city, though.
Posted by NorthwestT | February 21, 2013 7:41 PM
There was once a time when people accepted government work - yes, the pay was crap, you could easily get 25% or more pay in the private sector, but you're working for the public good, you get excellent benefits, retirement, healthcare, and lots of companies love to give government workers perks and discounts
Today - ANYONE can get a Costco membership. Many similar private sector jobs are a pay cut - people go to the government for more pay. More benefits. More time off - furlough day? Vacation Day! Every freaking holiday off? You got it.
I have no problem paying police officers, firemen, sewage treatment plan workers, and even the public works people who have to be on call 24/7 to fix potholes and broken water mains...I have NO problem at all paying them good money. Just as I have no problem paying the power company's lineman good money. (Disclaimer: I'm not a lineman but I do work for the power company. They get paid a hell of a lot more than I do.)
But for desk jockeys who sit around "approving" plans, coming up with laws, issuing business permits, planning who knows what...fire them all, and those who still manage to stick around, pay them $40K a year, 10 paid holidays, 15 days of personal time, let them pay 25% of their healthcare premiums, their TriMet pass (or their parking)...and no glorious city fitness center - they can pay for a membership to 24 Hour Fitness on their own dime. And retirement? Give them a good 'ol 401(k). I'll be nice and let the government contribute a match - 50% of the employee's contribution, up to 3% of their base salary. So, 3% of $40,000 is $1,200 - if the employee pitches in $1,200, the government will kick in an extra $600 per year.
Sounds fair to me...because that's what I get.
Posted by Erik H. | February 21, 2013 9:43 PM