City Hall's Excessive "$100,000 Club" Grows To Gluttonous "$200,000 Club"

' City Hall's Excessive "$100,000 Club" Grows To Gluttonous "$200,000 Club"

LBReport.com

Opinion

by Ann Cantrell

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(Aug. 22, 2017, 6:10 a.m.) -- It seems just a few years ago when the citizens of Long Beach were astounded to find that there were a number of city employees who were being paid $100,000. These employees were referred to as the members of the $100,000 Club.

This year, the Long Beach Business Journal reports [at this link] that there are now 1,462 Long Beach employees in the $100.000 or more Club, with many more in the $90,000 range. 34 employees are getting over $200,000. The salaries of The chief executive of the Harbor Dept. and the Assistant Ex. Dir. of Harbor Dept. are $351,291 and $296,013 respectively.

The Governor of California is the highest paid governor in the nation and his current salary is $195,304.

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I agree that many of these positions are vital to the health and safety for our city, but question that 35 people are receiving more money than Gov. Jerry Brown, especially the City Manager with a salary of $266,065, Assistant city manager at $252,146 and Deputy City Manager at $200,000.

The City Attorney has a salary of $283,768; the CA Attorney General earns over $100,000 less at $170,079. Plus, there are 2 assistant city attorneys over $200,000 and 16 in the $100,000 club. Yet, these highly paid lawyers have to contract out to costly private law firms to handle many of their cases. I believe we are not getting our money’s worth.

Add to this the unfunded liability of $897 Million in pensions alone and it is no wonder there is no money left for parks, libraries, roads, sidewalks and public safety.

I can remember when it was argued that city employee salaries had to match private sector salaries or no one would want to work for the city. It doesn't appear this is still the case. I count 107 members of the $100,000 club as being New Persons or New Positions. I wonder how many comparable positions there are in the private sector in LB which pay that much?

On the other end of the scale, Parks and Rec has 468 part-time employees compared to 202 full time. Some of these people may prefer to work part time, but many would like more hours and benefits, but are told there is not the budget for it. It appears to me that there is inequality in pay in this city with a those at the top getting outrageous salaries compared to those at the bottom.

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