An update to State Controller John Chiang’s ‘Local Government Compensation Reporting website’ reveals the salary, pension benefits and other employee compensation for several hundred local transit, waste disposal, and fire and police protection districts.
-- In Oakland, a police officer whose listed salary maximum was $98,000 a year was paid $245,432.
-- In San Francisco, a deputy chief earning $250,666 a year collected more than half a million dollars when he retired in 2009.
-- In San Jose, nine of the top 10 earners were Police or Fire Department employees. None made less than $275,000.
In Oakland, the starting pay for police officers - $70,044.96 - is higher than most other police jobs in the state.
The data collected by Chiang's office from cities throughout California show some police and fire departments taking a very large share of city budgets. As Visión Hispana reported last year (‘Pricey police hold Oakland budget hostage’ – ‘Policía muy cara mantiene prisionero el presupuesto de Oakland’), 75 percent of Oakland’s $400 million general fund is spent on police and fire service.
The total costs of police and firefighters have contributed greatly to Oakland’s budget deficit of $46 million. According to the figures in Chiang's database, Oakland police officers and firefighters constituted 440 of the city's 500 highest-paid employees in 2009.
Top ten highest salaries and other pay in Oakland in 2009:
$251,370: Oakland Police Chief
$246,936: City Administrator
$245,432: Police Officer
$239,300: Police Officer
$238,250: Police Officer
$233,557: Fire Lieutenant
$232,185: Police Officer
$226,708: Police Sergeant
$225,197: Police Lieutenant
$222,457: Police Sergeant
“Californians were offered instant access to salary information in their own communities when I launched the first public payroll site of city and county compensation last fall,” said Chiang. “Posting this information allows California residents to see where their public dollars are being spent and to better hold their local agencies accountable.”
Last October, the Controller collected and posted wage information for more than 600,000 city and county employees. He then ordered special districts across the state to report the same information.