Posted on 03/28/2007 2:15:49 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving hefty raises to nearly 50 top state administrators, saying they are necessary to retain and attract talented managers. The largest raise goes to Ruben Grijalva, director of the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. His salary will rise 27%, from $133,732 to $169,500.
Ten agency directors and the directors at four departments - Health Services, Mental Health, Social Services and Developmental Services - will receive 23% raises. The commissioner of the California Highway Patrol is receiving a 19% raise. Other department directors will get increases of between 7% and 12%. They take effect April 1.
The state Department of Personnel Administration set the raises based on what managers at comparable local agencies were being paid.
In Grijalva's case, for example, the study found he was being paid 62% of the average salary for fire chiefs in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose. With the raise, he will make 79% of what those local officials earn.
"They're underpaid," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said. "We need to try to pay them competitive salaries."
State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, agreed, saying many state executives make less than assistant city managers in Palmdale and Lancaster. He said, though, that higher pay should come with greater accountability.
"I don't have any problem with paying people a competitive wage and then firing them if they don't get the job done," he said.
Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, said the state needs to make sure it has the best employees available.
"In the attorney general's office, it's very hard to hire attorneys because they can make four, five, 10 times as much as we pay them," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
Arnold, I think I deserve 169,000 a year too. I know I'm not in California, but my intentions are good.
What a joke!
"Attorney's can make two, three, four times as much as they can make in public service."
Ha! Well let them. Lawyers are a glut on the U.S. market.
Arnold has become a joke.
Uh, gee. I thought CA was having a financial crisis.
Now...now...Schwarzenkennedy is a REPUBLICAN...had Gray Davis still been in office they would've gotten $300,000! At least Arnold is slowing the growth of these raises < /FairOpinion >
Watch the unions jump on this as an excuse....
With the cost of living there $169k is merely middle class, and we're talking about someone with the skills to manage a large statewide organization.
At $169k, if the person is competent, they are still earning considerably less than they would in private employment, so they still are doing a public service in accepting that kind of pay.
Why is it that some capitalists seem to turn into socialists when it comes to paying public employees. They don't think that public employees deserve competitive wages with what can be earned in private industry, then they are surprised when power hungry people who abuse their offices for personal gain are the only people interested in working for the government for more than a short stretch.
A salary of $169K isn't fair? Are you on GLUE?
Think of it this way. At 6% APR, the monthly interest on a $800,000 mortgage is $4000, that's just interest.
Now add insane property tax rates.
Don't forget that a huge portion of the $169k is going to taxes.
Don't forget that the mandated minimum wage in CA has driven up the price of everything and raised the cost of living.
$169k will make them comfortably middle class.
If they want to put away some additional money for retirement, pay for their kid's college education, and own things like cars, it all adds up awfully quickly.
If someone is good enough to run a large agency efficiently, I would expect them to make more than that in that area.
I'm willing to bet the GM of the company I work for (that isn't that large) makes close to that much here in Ohio.
The cost of living is insane there.
They should make whatever the market dictates they make.
It's called capitalism.
Seems sensible enough to me. The amount these folks are paid is infinitesimal compared to what they spend, and a few extra grand to get and keep good people is a bargain.
Otherwise, you get a bunch of short-timers who are out peddling their contacts to contractors and lobbyists before they're in the job long enough to get good at it. The amount of money from an agency budget that is wasted by an inept, corrupt or inexperienced administrator dwarfs the amount of salary it would take to hire someone more competent.
Skimping on salaries for state employees is a classic case of penny-wise, pound-foolish.
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