Well done Bay Area News Group. More than two dozen of their reporters have worked to build a searchable online database with the salaries of more than 134,000 public employees.
Here are some of their findings…
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A public health care district in southern Alameda County paid its chief executive $876,831 in 2008 — more than twice as much as any other local government employee in the East Bay, San Francisco,San Mateo County and San Joaquin County, an extensive survey of salary data by the Bay Area News Group found.
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San Joaquin County also had four employees in the top 10 highest paid employees — four doctors at the county’s General Hospital, paid from $377,023 to $449,155.
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The data show that across the region, 73 public workers grossed more than $200,000 in 2008 through overtime pay that exceeded the standard base pay for their jobs.
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A San Francisco nurse took home nearly $183,000 worth of overtime with a base salary of $132,740.
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Twenty-four Oakland employees received overtime that exceeded their base pay; all but one of them was a police officer. In Contra Costa County, 12 firefighters also were paid more in overtime than base salary.
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…San Ramon, which employed 243 workers, paid its manager, Herb Moniz, $324,503 in 2008. San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson did not return calls to discuss Moniz’s pay.
As unemployment rises and wages fall, we as a society will look for groups or individuals to blame. They will be tarred and feathered. Realtors, mortgage brokers, politicians, and greedy public employees gaming the system to pocket tax-payer money.
As social mood continues to darken, expect great reporting like this to increase…and the public floggings to get more brutal.
August 31, 2009
Macro Trends and Analysis