If you want to get rich off taxpayer dollars, San Benito County
government is probably the wrong place.
Hollister – If you want to get rich off taxpayer dollars, San Benito County government is probably the wrong place.
County salaries fall far below similar positions in neighboring areas, according to a pay schedule requested by the Free Lance using a recent decision from the California Supreme Court. For example, Santa Clara County’s top officer, County Executive Pete Kutras, makes $292,339. That’s nearly double the $150,952 salary of San Benito’s County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson.
“The county would certainly try to remain on-par with surrounding areas,” said Supervisor Don Marcus. “But given the economic situation … there may be difficulties.”
Marcus declined to comment further on the salaries due to ongoing negotiations between workers’ unions and the county.
The salary information only recently became available to the Free Lance and public due to a ruling from the California Supreme Court stating that governments must reveal what they are paying employees. Unions opposed the decision, but Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Executive Director Kris Vosburgh – whose group advocates for lower taxes – said making salaries public is good for a working democracy.
“It means that when elected officials talk to the public about actions that they’re going to take … the public has the information to make a good decision,” he said.
Vosburgh also noted that there are often trade-offs for a lower salary, including a lower cost of living.
The relatively low pay of San Benito County staff has been a tough issue in recent weeks. In September, around 100 county workers marched in front of the County Administrative Building to demand parity with the salaries of surrounding counties.
Lori Woodle, an accountant with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office and part of the union’s negotiating team, said she studied salaries for comparable positions in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. In most cases, San Benito’s salaries were below other counties, Woodle said. For example, an average road maintenance worker in San Benito County would make 44 percent of a similar workers’ salary in Santa Cruz or Monterey counties, she said. On the less disparate end of the scale, a local heavy mechanic would make 88 percent of the salary of a heavy mechanic in the other counties.
There’s a similar difference in top management positions. In Santa Cruz County, the county administrative officer makes $211,453, the county counsel makes $190,528 and the public works director makes $169,624. In San Benito County, those employees make $150,952, $142,000 and $139,754, respectively.
“It’s not cost-effective in the long run to have salaries that are not competitive,” Woodle said. “It’s critical to serving the public to have continuity in the organization. … The value is in the employee who has long-term knowledge.”
Woodle acknowledged that it’s unrealistic for local workers to fully match wages in Santa Cruz or Monterey counties, but she said they should be close.
So how does the cost of living compare among counties? If nothing else, it’s much easier to buy a house in San Benito County, where the median price for homes sold in August was $520,500. During the same month, the median was $715,000 in Santa Clara County and $669,500 in Santa Cruz County, according to the state Economic Development Department.
And county staff may not be heading for the poorhouse either – only 13 of the approximately 367 full-time workers included in the pay schedule make less than the local average income. According to the EDD, San Benito County’s average income is $30,442.
The pay schedule, dated Aug. 21 and provided to the Free Lance in September, lists 13 employees making more than $100,000, but one of them – Assistant Public Works Director Peter Corn – has retired and his position remains open. That means that around 3 percent of San Benito County workers are making more than $100,000 per year, much less than the 17 percent in Santa Clara.
Top Ten Highest Paid:
1. Susan Thompson
County Administrative Officer $150,952
2. Dennis Le Clere
County Counsel
$142,000
3. Jerry Lo
Public Works Director $139,754
4. Curtis Hill
Sheriff/Coroner
$139,475
5. Rich Inman
Assistant CAO
$123,756
6. Joe Paul Gonzalez County Clerk-Auditor-Reporter $120,084
6. Candice Hooper
District Attorney
$120,084
8. Art Henriques
Planning Director
$118,735
9. Kathy Flores
Health/Human Services Director
$110,000
10. Pat Turturici
Undersheriff
$108,108
Note: Salaries are estimates based on biweekly payment information provided by San Benito County. They do not include overtime.
Source: San Benito County
