Aug. 11, 2010: City Salaries – Hefty Increases Dominate, With Notable Exceptions of Library, Finance, Police, Streets

By Carolyn Schuk

The growth of public sector compensation has been a hot news topic ever since Bell California's exorbitant city salaries made the headlines. Santa Clara offers its own, albeit more modest, laboratory of how the dynamics of civil service pay can take on independent life of its own, driven by politics and detached from the economic and revenue realities.

Santa Clara's Top 25 Salaries in 2010-2011

Santa Clara's pay scale tips the balance on the generous side. While 12 City employees make over $200,000 and 128 make over $100,000, fewer than 10 are paid less than $50,000. The City's lowest paying job? City Council Member, followed by Mayor.

While workers in the private sector saw average merit and base pay increases of 2 to 3 percent, 83 percent of city workers will receive raises of 5 percent or more this year – with 27 percent taking home more than 10 percent in salary increases. In fact, the average City raise in the coming fiscal year is about 11 percent – almost twice the 4 to 6 percent negotiated in Memorandums of Understanding Further, 19 of the city's top 25 highest-paid positions taking home raises higher than 5 percent this year.

Although the City's top earners aren't taking home the largest percentage increases, 14 of them will receive five-digit increases in the coming fiscal year. Topping the list are the Assistant City Attorney, the Director of Information Technology, and the Director of Planning and Inspection, whose salaries will increase more than $20,000 this year.  

Santa Clara's Lowest Salaries 2010-2011

However, not every city department grew its salary budget this year. Notable exceptions to the trend include the city's Police, Streets, and Finance departments as well as the City Library. SCPD's overall salary budget dropped by over $1.2 million, with pay for the City's police officers declining an average of 4 percent. Salary for the City Attorney –the position is currently open – was cut about $32,000. 

All of the City's salaries are listed in the annual operating budget, starting at page 60. It's advisable to print the pages out because the salary information isn't in a concise format.