On Monday, the same day that State Controller John Chiang released the data from the next phase of his local government compensation database, another story has come to light about the over-the-top pay of local government officials.
In Moreno Valley, a city about an hour outside of Los Angeles, the former city manager received $459,468 in total compensation, including his severance package.
Even more eye-popping may be the $17,000+ per month pension he will collect, despite pleading guilty to identity theft and other crimes. Robert Gutierrez got $459,468 in salary and severance in 2009 as city manager of Moreno Valley, a suburb with 450 employees and 193,000 residents an hour east of Los Angeles. That’s twice the salary of the governor, responsible for 353,000 employees and 37 million people. Gutierrez wasn’t alone. Almost four in 10 city managers in Californiawere paid more than the state’s chief executive in 2009, according to payroll data. The top 10 shared $4.7 million including bonuses and allowances to oversee cities averaging 115,000, the data shows. Eighty-five managers that year were paid $250,000 or more.
“It’s outrageous,” said Deanna Reeder, 49, who lives in Moreno Valley, which had per capita income of $18,728 in 2009 and an April unemployment rate of 15.6 percent. “California is hurting. Every city is hurting and instead of dealing with it, they overpay some people, and the person they are overpaying doesn’t solve the problems.” Read the full article here.
From Bloomberg:
