Here are the top 10 highest-paid San Luis Obispo County employees last year
The top earners in San Luis Obispo County government in 2017 didn’t get there with salaries alone, rather their six-figure incomes were bolstered with overtime and pay-out benefits.
The top two earners were both psychiatrists working on-call on top of their full time hours — reflecting an ongoing problem the county has had hiring trying to fill an open position.
“We have persistent vacancies for psychiatrists. The ones we do have pick up all the slack,” said Human Resources Director Tami Douglas-Schatz when explaining extra pay two county employees received in 2017.
Wage data released by the California State Controller’s Office show that the county Medical Director and Psychiatrist Dr. Daisy Ilano was paid an extra $124,900 and staff psychiatrist Anup Sidhu was paid an extra $93,700 on top of their salaries.
That pay is reimbursement for being on-call or responding to call-backs for psychiatric services at the county’s in-patient clinic because “we never can hire psychiatrists,” Douglas-Schatz emphasized.
The next top earners, County Counsel Rita Neal and District Attorney Dan Dow, were both paid thousands of dollars for a cash health benefit that is no longer available to new employees. The program allows employees who are grandfathered in to take the cash equivalent of the county contribution to their health care plans in lieu of the coverage. Douglas-Schatz said often the employee may be covered by their spouse’s insurance, for example, she said. Dow received about $8,000 and Neal received about $2,000.
Neal also received thousands in vacation time, and they both received cash for auto allowance and cell phone reimbursement.
Curiously, a Sheriff’s commander took home more pay than his boss.
That was due to $56,000 in payouts to Kenneth Conway who retired. The money was from accrued vacation and sick leave, as well as cell phone reimbursement and the cash equivalent of health care benefits.
Here are the top 10 highest paid county workers for 2017:
1. Medical Director, Behavioral Health: $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, Behavioral Health: $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. County Counsel: $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
4. District Attorney: $224,380
Regular Pay: $210,437
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $0
Other Pay: $13,943
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $88,611
5. Public Health Administrator: $218,930
Regular Pay: $212,472
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $0
Other Pay: $6,458
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $85,851
6. Health Agency Director: $207,682
Regular Pay: $199,774
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $0
Other Pay: $7,908
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $79,254
7. Sheriff’s Commander: $206,324
Regular Pay: $140,588
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $56,130
Other Pay: $9,606
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $9,291
8. Sheriff-Coroner: $205,118
Regular Pay: $205,118
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $0
Other Pay: $0
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $110,233
9. Assistant County Administrator: $201,358
Regular Pay: $197,374
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $3,594
Other Pay: $390
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $78,878
10. County Administrative Officer: $199,714
Regular Pay: $151,212
Overtime Pay: $0
Lump-Sum Pay: $44,317
Other Pay: $4,185
Total Retirement and Health Contribution: $61,823
This story was originally published August 4, 2018 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Here are the top 10 highest-paid San Luis Obispo County employees last year."