How much money did SLO County and city workers make in 2017? Here’s your guide
We all want to know what other people make — especially when it comes to government employees whose salaries are paid out of our tax money.
To scratch that itch, here’s your guide to the top-paid workers across San Luis Obispo County, from the Five Cities to North County.
First, let’s look at the broad numbers:
The California Controller’s office, which releases public employee compensation reports annually, said 5,199 public officials were paid a grand total of $313.4 million in San Luis Obispo County last year. This included all city, county and Superior Court employees.
Workers from the County of San Luis Obispo represented the largest piece of the pie, with $210.2 million going toward wages for 3,428 county employees in 2017.
The city of San Luis Obispo followed with $36.9 million spent on wages for 444 workers in 2017. The smallest slice in the county goes to Grover Beach, where 75 employees were paid a total of $5.02 million.
Looking at SLO County as a whole, most of the highest paid officials were either county employees, Superior Court Judges and firefighters.
The latter had some of the highest wages in the county last year largely because of overtime payments fighting the numerous blazes that burned destructive paths around the state.
Notably, only three of the city managers from the county’s seven cities — Pismo Beach, Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo — were included in the top 20 highest-paid workers, while only one — Pismo Beach — cracked the top 10.
A closer look
So how do the county’s finances look at the smaller levels?
This guide spans from the Five Cities area, where police employees are some of the highest paid, to San Luis Obispo, where last year’s lengthy and destructive fire season had firefighters in some cases earning more overtime than other people’s entire salaries.
It stretches to Morro Bay, where major staff turnover in recent years has impacted the city’s finances, and to North County, where Paso Robles’ salaries kept pace with SLO and Pismo for some of the highest in the county.
We’ve also included a roundup of SLO County government employees, where two medical directors made more than $350,000 and $410,000 a piece, largely due to on-call hours picking up the slack amid a mental health staff shortage.
For the highest paid in each city, or for county employees, click the links below:
SLO County:
San Luis Obispo:
Pismo Beach:
Grover Beach:
Arroyo Grande:
Morro Bay:
Paso Robles:
Atascadero:
How do they compare?
Want a quick comparison of some of each city’s top positions?
The highest paid
Here are the top 20 highest-paid positions across the entire county, including all seven cities and the County of San Luis Obispo, for 2017:
1. Behavioral Health Medical Director, SLO County: $410,957
Regular pay: $286,031
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $124,926
Total retirement and health contribution: $95,737*
*Total retirement and health contributions not factored into total wages.
2. Staff Psychiatrist, SLO County: $350,294
Regular pay: $256,555
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $93,739
Total retirement and health contribution: $28,167
3. Fire Captain, San Luis Obispo: $241,713
Regular pay: $96,015
Overtime pay: $125,091
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $20,607
Total retirement and health contribution: $44,015
4. Police Officer, Grover Beach: $234,632
Regular pay: $74,581
Overtime pay: $7,598
Lump-sum pay: $142,501
Other pay: $9,952
Total retirement and health contribution: $53,957
5. County Counsel, SLO County: $231,172
Regular pay: $217,911
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $4,282
Other pay: $8,979
Total retirement and health contribution: $85,294
6. Fire Captain, San Luis Obispo: $229,122
Regular pay: $97,021
Overtime pay: $111,864
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $20,237
Total retirement and health contribution: $44,337
7. Fire Battalion Chief, San Luis Obispo: $227,744
Regular pay: $131,738
Overtime pay: $84,202
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $11,804
Total retirement and health contribution: $41,571
8. District Attorney, SLO County: $224,380
Regular pay: $210,437
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $13,943
Total retirement and health contribution: $88,611
9. Public Health Administrator/Health Official, SLO County: $218,930
Regular pay: $212,472
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $6,458
Total retirement and health contribution: $85,851
10. City Manager, Pismo Beach: $218,476
Regular pay: $208,364
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $1,025
Other pay: $9,087
Total retirement and health contribution: $48,524
11. Judge, Superior Court: $217,882
Regular pay: $197,200
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $20,682
Total retirement and health contribution: $15,949
12. Fire Captain, San Luis Obispo: $217,722
Regular pay: $100,033
Overtime pay: $105,922
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $11,767
Total retirement and health contribution: $42,952
13. Fire Captain, San Luis Obispo: $215,900
Regular pay: $99,680
Overtime pay: $99,818
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $16,402
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $36,068
14. City Attorney, San Luis Obispo: $214,832
Regular Pay: $187,584
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $16,988
Other Pay: $10,260
Total retirement and health contribution: $65,259
15. Fire Captain, San Luis Obispo: $213,808
Regular pay: $97,711
Overtime pay: $108,014
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $8,083
Total retirement and health contribution: $41,586
16. City Manager, Paso Robles: $213,779
Regular pay: $201,000
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $2,996
Other pay: $9,783
Total retirement and health contribution: $72,721
17. Judge, Superior Court: $212,961
Regular pay: $192,969
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $19,992
Total retirement and health contribution: $16,641
18. City Manager, San Luis Obispo: $211,978
Regular pay: $171,450
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $26,724
Other pay: $13,804
Total retirement and health contribution: $58,991
19. Judge, Superior Court: $193,673
Regular pay: $193,673
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $18,072
Total retirement and health contribution: $15,124
20. Judge, Superior Court: $210,219
Regular pay: $191,795
Overtime pay: $0
Lump-sum pay: $0
Other pay: $18,424
Total retirement and health contribution: $22,741
This story was originally published August 4, 2018 at 5:01 PM.