The Vanguard was pleased to see the Davis Enterprise reporter Claire St. John on Wednesday run a story which highlighted the 100K Club of Davis for 2008, updating the work the Vanguard did on August 5, 2008 with 2007 data.
Davis Enterprise Columnist Rich Rifkin also ran an analysis in his column on the Davis Fire Department.
In 2007, there were 61 members of the 100K Club of Davis. 48 of those were public safety employees. Of those 38 were firefighters.
The 2008 data show that while the number of 100K Club of Davis members has increased to 72, overtime pay was down from over $1 million to roughly $600,000.
Despite the decrease in overtime payments the number of public safety employees in the 100K club remained basically steady with 49 members. Once again 38 of those were from fire with an increase of one police officer pushing their total 11.
It is worth noting that the average city worker makes just under $70,000, which is slightly higher than the city’s median family income of $65,000.
However, jumping off the chart is salary and overtime payments to fire fighters who make $106,000 on average although down slightly from the $109,000 from 2007 due to reductions in overtime payments. That figure is still $30,000 more than the next highest department, the City Manager’s office, or 40% greater.
When total compensation is factored in–adding benefits and pensions to salary and overtime, the difference is just as stark. The average firefighter receives $142,000 in total compensation with the City Manager’s office next at roughly $107,000 and police at $103,000 just above the $98,000 average.
Full list of 100K Club of Davis identified by position rather than by name.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I would still like to see a comparison – uniformed police officers versus uniformed fire fighters. About 50% of the police department is made up of non officers with lower pay scales – fire has a few also, but very few. I think that would show police in the mid to high 120’s (with overtime) versus fire in the mid 140’s (with overtime). It does not change your point but it is more balanced information – both fire and police do quite well.
Also remember the fire salary (base salary)is based on 2950 (roughly – I forget the exact number) hours per year versus 2080 for police.
He should add that the City is responsible for these employees’ pensions. And, CALPERS is going broke according to this: http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=xueyaz0l5590kj
State ponders money shift to CalPERS to guard pensions
By John Howard (published Thursday, March 19, 2009)
The state, already strapped by unprecedented deficit and a weakened economy, may be on the hook next year to bail out California’s largest public pension fund – a possibility that once appeared remote.
. . ..
One figure I compiled, and I think is even more relevant than salary + OT, is gross income. That is, a person’s salary, plus any overtime, plus the actual amount contributed to his pension that year by the city, plus the dollar value of his medical, dental and vision plan.*
In her story yesterday, Claire reported that 199 of the 458 people employed by the City of Davis in 2008 had a “gross income” greater than $100,000. Someone emailed me yesterday asking, how many in the fire department reach that threshold? The answer is 50 out of 52. The only two who did not were an office assistant ($61,000) and an administrative aide ($76,000).
* The actual “gross income” figures are higher than my calculation. I never inquired about the cost per employee of the city’s life insurance or long-term disability insurance, so I left those out of the “gross income” calculation. Also, because each employee is promised retiree medical-dental-vision, which for the most part will be funded after retirement, that should be a part of “gross income.” However, I don’t have estimates for that, so I left it out. As for the current medical-dental-vision, I used an estimated figure for the cost of the plans per employee, based on how much the city spent for this in 2008. I never inquired for the records of individuals in this regard. The actual amounts vary, based on which plan each chooses and number of dependents on the employee’s plan.
This is unreal. Again, the citizens of Davis are being ripped-off. We better start changing these salaries or were going to be in deep trouble down the road. A firefighter making $100k is a joke. Hundreds of qualified individuals would do it for half. Wake up!
[i]”I think that would show police in the mid to high 120’s (with overtime) versus fire in the mid 140’s (with overtime). It does not change your point but it is more balanced information – both fire and police do quite well.”[/i]
Alphonso, in 2008, there were 61 uniformed police officers on the payroll. That counts only people with the titles “police officer” and “police sergeant” and “police lieutenant” and “police captain.” The average salary plus OT for that group in 2008 was $84,294. For firefighters it was $106,670.
The police range was from $61,736 to $137,491. The fire range was from $72,297 to $144,088.
The police median was $81,278. The fire median was $107,571.
Of the 61 police officers, 8 exceeded $100,000. Of the 46 firefighters, 34 topped $100,000.
It must be restated that salary plus overtime greatly understates how much true gross income these employees make. The city’s pension contribution for one police captain, for example, was $28,572 last year. Add to that the annual cost of medical, retiree medical, life insurance, long-term disability and so on, and you see why we are in the red.
If the city hired more public safety employees so that it did not have to pay as much overtime, would the result be more or less to city expenses?
I asked that question of Bill Emlen and also Paul Navazio last year and that’s one of the things they are looking into.
Perhaps this has been covered previously though an update on it might be in order… How well are our firefighters and police officers doing monetarily compared to their counterparts in cities of the same relative size as Davis?
I guess I’m asking if these figures are normal in the state of California or if Davis is an anomaly? If we are why and has there been any serious discussion on the city’s part to bring us into line with the norm?
Jonathon:
The answer depends. The salaries are comparable to other jurisdictions. That’s not a defense for Davis as an indictment for most cities. Most cities are now in similar straits with the worst case being Vallejo who actually declared bankruptcy.
Previous studies have shown that salary increases have not kept up with revenue increases.
We also have a huge unfunded liability for medical benefits and pensions for retirees.
Finally, a few weeks ago we did a report that showed that the cost per call in Davis was among the highest of comparable cities. Read it here ([url]https://davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2652:vanguard-analysis-davis-fire-has-high-cost-per-service-call&catid=58:budgetfiscal&Itemid=79[/url]).
Thanks for the additional information David.
I might be wrong but I thought part of the State’s budget package were some bills or language in other bills that’d allow counties and cities more control over local taxation issues… Though with all that was going on with the budget talks I don’t know if they made it in to the signed package. If they did perhaps this small transfer of power back to the local level will help balance that equation again.
Even if it does though, that doesn’t remove the problem of inflated wages for public workers.
[i]”If the city hired more public safety employees so that it did not have to pay as much overtime, would the result be more or less to city expenses?”[/i]
If you read my column in yesterday’s Enterprise, you will see how my plan would — for awhile — get ride of all of the fire department overtime, other than the amount the state reimburses the city for. However, in discussing this idea last week with Navazio and Emlen, Paul specifically said to me, “The city would save more money having fewer firefighters,” as opposed to my idea of not firing anyone, but allowing natural attrition to reduced the force back to the levels they should be.
Thus, I conclude from what Paul said is that, at least with regard to fire, more employees and less overtime does not save money.
[i]”How well are our firefighters and police officers doing monetarily compared to their counterparts in cities of the same relative size as Davis?”[/i]
I concede my view on this is subjective and political, but I think your question is one we should get away from. Davis (and almost all other cities our size) got into the trouble we are in now [i]because[/i] we continually compare our compensation packages with cities our size. This ends up being a “keeping up with the Joneses” ratrace. One city raises salaries 10% — say they have a new shopping mall and the added sales tax that goes with it — and then every other city in that area feels compelled — by this comparative process — to match or exceed that raise [i]in order to stay competitive. It’s a viscious cycle and it is the reason we are in such dire straits, paying people from the bottom to the top so much more than we can afford or is necessary.
Instead, a more rational approach is to ask: how much in salaries and benefits can we sustainably afford? If we offer pension programs like 3% at 50, what happens when CalPERS gets in trouble? Can we really afford massive increases in their premiums?
A huge myth — put out by all the public employee associations — is that there is a limited talent pool and that if you don’t offer top dollar, you won’t get anyone good to apply. Yet the evidence for that has never existed. Even when city managers made half what they make now — in real dollars — there were always long lines of good people ready to step in. Paying double and triple what we paid before has not resulted in a noticeable improvement of quality in our fire services or other public performances.
When a job opens at the DFD, literally a hundred or more will apply for it. If we cut the wages by 33%, I suspect we would still get 50 or more applications for each job.
When taxpayers pay more than is necessary for public employees, we are being ripped off. At the levels salaries and benefits and pensions are now, the rip off is grand theft.
Those AIG guys don’t look so overpaid anymore. Perhaps the new tax that was passed by the House this morning will hit a few of these guys, once the bailout money reaches Davis.
Rich:
That’s an excellent point and one I overlooked when I asked the question. All cities are not created equal and their revenue streams are certainly a product of their own statutes, etc…
Your point about the limited pool is especially true in a down economy. When many very talented people are out of work and will take any job at any price, more so when it comes with medical benefits.
A question Rich: Would a sustainable wage for city workers (safety, civil, or otherwise) be enough to live and raise a family in Davis?
There seem to be two models here. Fire hires fewer people (than police) relative to total hours worked which results in more overtime. As a result fire overtime pay is higher and accordingly average compensation is higher. On the other hand it would seem that fire has fewer people lining up for pensions and I assume overtime dollars have nothing to do with pension costs. Should fire hire more people and eliminate OT or do pension savings out weigh the cost of overtime?
“When taxpayers pay more than is necessary for public employees, we are being ripped off.”
I feel the same way about UC and specifically UCD salaries. As I recall there are 2000 people at UCD making over $100K and that was base pay – so it excluded benefits, pension and OT. Once you solve the city’s compensation issues please focus on the bigger can of worms.
[i]”A question Rich: Would a sustainable wage for city workers (safety, civil, or otherwise) be enough to live and raise a family in Davis?”[/i]
I think the answer is yes. Part of that depends on what the long-term trend is with home prices, which is driven by how much everyone else’s income in Davis rises or falls; and to some extent on the supply of housing, here. Davis has not approved a new major development in about 10 years.
You might note that a lot of the highest paid city workers don’t live in Davis. 80 percent of the firefighters, for example, live outside of town. The city manager, who is the highest paid worker for the city, lives in Vacaville (I was told).
Even if no one working for the city is laid off or has his wage reduced, we could balance the budget. The problem is all of the cost-items above and beyond salaries. Pension costs are a tremendous burden. The formulas the city now has in place are not sustainable. Medical costs have grown way beyond affordable to the city. In contrast with the school district and almost all private employers, city workers can pick medical plans in which they are their dependents are covered and they have no copays and never feel the burden of increased premiums. That’s not sustainable. A growing burden is the retiree medical, which encourages city employees to retire as young as age 50. We cannot afford that at all. And a problem on top of all of these is that the city has an inordinately large number of so-called executives, with new titles like assistant or deputy department head, etc. For the long term, we probably have to rely on fewer people in upper-level management positions to be sustainable.
New York firefighters seem to make base pay that is lower than Davis firefighters.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/community/ff_salary_benefits_080106.shtml
I (sic) love what their website says:
THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD HAS THE BEST BENEFITS IN THE WORLD
As a New York City Firefighter, you will receive an incredible benefits package and a competitive salary that more than doubles in your first five years on the job.
But act now, the chance to join only comes every four years.
Benefits include:
Lifelong medical coverage for you and your family;
Growth opportunities;
Flexible work schedules;
Up to four weeks paid vacation per year;
Generous pension after 20 years of service
Sounds better than a management job with AIG.
However, I guess they didn’t check with Davis first to learn about the real BEST JOB IN THE WORLD THAT HAS THE BEST BENEFITS IN THE WORLD
I’m sure our firefighters work hard and are capable heros, but their jobs must be quite cushy compared to the NY gig.
An office assistant ($61,000) and an administrative aide ($76,000). I don’t know what these people do, but the titles are $12-$20/hr positions ($24k – $41k/yr).
Unfortunately, I think the city will have to file bankruptsy before we can bring down these out of control compensation levels. How do you get that cat back in the bag?
Test
test
“Unfortunately, I think the city will have to file bankruptsy before we can bring down these out of control compensation levels. How do you get that cat back in the bag?”
Does anyone know what the most recent results were about the Vallejo bankruptcy decision, and whether a judge is going to be able to renegotiate the contracts of city employees?
“However, in discussing this idea last week with Navazio and Emlen, Paul specifically said to me, “The city would save more money having fewer firefighters,” as opposed to my idea of not firing anyone, but allowing natural attrition to reduced the force back to the levels they should be.”
And you believe Paul Navazio, the Finance Director who put road repair and employee benefits in the “unmet need” category, and pronounced a balanced budget only about one year ago – to further the campaign of the Council majority? Paul Navazio has no credibility whatsoever in my book!
[i]”Paul Navazio has no credibility whatsoever in my book!”[/i]
Attacking someone personally under the darkness of anonymity has no credibility whatsoever in my book.
Lets walk a mile in the shoes of a blog administrator or a twice a month columnist for a day .
Lets wake up , no particular time matters ,no time clock to punch .
Eat some breakfast , get dressed , groom yourself , do the same for your kids , what , oh you guys have none .
Send your wives off to work , poor another cup of coffee , read the Davis Enterprise , think about exercising .
Finally , your work ethic kicks in ,what should I do today ? Pondering for a long while it is now lunch time , guess what lets eat , it’s now 1:30 maybe 2 ish , I better get some typing done on my blog and my twice a month column , you know what the Enterprise published something I can type about , wow did that make my day of work fly by , thanks Enterprise and Sac Bee .
Wife’s coming home from her 8 to 5 job , wonder what she will cook for dinner , hope her day was as productive as mine , well luckily it’s a good night for TV , and then bed ,
Wow , please don’t ever tell people who are Teachers , State workers ,Firefighters, Cops , that until you walk in their shoes , that they are overpaid and a burden on the economy , shame on you two !
I would really prefer people not dismiss the opinions of others without basis. The comment is directed to Just Wondering. I find it far more interesting to figure out if he’s right or wrong rather than assume one way or another based on mistaken personal prejudice.
This is an interesting question. Average salary and OT is roughly $106K for ff’s. Average Total compensation is roughly $142K. The average raw salary is roughly $89K. That means that the cost of pension and benefits is roughly 50K.
So there has to come a point when the amount of additional OT at time and a half exceeds the cost of pension and benefits.
I don’t know when that happens, but there reaches a point when that will happen.
I need to post a clarification for something which was in Claire St. John’s story in The Enterprise. Insofar as it was wrong or confusing, the fault is mine. I have spoken with city staffers since the article was published, who were unhappy with how this one aspect was handled in the story. They thought that what was said was not accurate.
Claire wrote: “Also in 2008, the city hired 35 new employees and lost only 10 to retirement or other opportunities, increasing its workforce – and its responsibility to pay into a retirement fund – by 25 people.”
That’s approximately what I told her. However, my conclusion was off base. On the payroll records for 2007*, the city of Davis had 433 employees listed. On the payroll records for 2008, the city of Davis had 458 employees listed. I checked all the names and found that 35 people listed in 2008 were new; and 10 people listed in 2007 were gone. Thus, I concluded that the city employed an additional 25 people. However, that conclusion ignores the fact that before the end of the 2008 calendar year, a number of people on the payroll in 2008 left employment (for whatever reason) with the city of Davis. If the number who left during last year — I don’t have that actual number — was 25, then the city essentially added no employees over 2007.
If I had realized that before I gave the numbers to Claire, she would have written, “In 2008, the city hired 35 new employees and lost only 10 who were on the payroll in 2007 to retirement or other opportunities.”
The city staff had some other quibbles, none of which hold muster.
——————-
*I was told this morning that the 2007 list, which was provided to me by the Vanguard, and originally obtained by a public records request by The Sacramento Bee, has errors in it. If that is the case, then it’s the fault of the city for putting out incorrect information.
Hi David , your censorship is becoming quite frequent .
“If I had realized that before I gave the numbers to Claire, she would have written, “In 2008, the city hired 35 new employees and lost only 10 who were on the payroll in 2007 to retirement or other opportunities.”
Why don’t you ask the City Manager how many new employees were added last year – straight out! Then come back and tell us what was said!
“Hi David , your censorship is becoming quite frequent .”
You mean DPD will not post your grossness? Good for him! You can clean up your comment enough to pass muster, and still get your idea across!
that’s right, Rifkin… if you mess up, blame it on others…
Hortense: How did he mess up? He was relying on the data given to him by the city. As was I last year. You have to trust that the when you request data from a public agency, it is correct. There is no way to real guard against it.
“Hortense: How did he mess up? He was relying on the data given to him by the city. As was I last year. You have to trust that the when you request data from a public agency, it is correct. There is no way to real guard against it.”
Perhaps not, but you can take it w a grain of salt. Anything Paul Navazio gave me I would consider suspect. This man put road repairs and employment benefits in the “unmet need” category, then pronounced a balanced budget for his Council majority buddies. How much credibility could he have?
Firefighters make more money than the average person because they put their lives on the line to save the lives of others. To be better informed, please see this link:
http://www.fireengineering.com/display_article/356530/25/none/none/HLTHS/Landmark-FEMA-study:-Heart-disease-is-an-epidemic-for-firefighter