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Following up to our story the other day about the apparent doubling of City of West Hollywood payroll and benefit costs over the last ten years (we’re expecting comment back from the City on matter, possibly today), Chris Bray requested documents about the City’s payroll back in 1999 to do some further research.
What really got our attention when researching our previous story was that the salary range for almost every position at city hall — even the most entry level — comfortably exceeds $50,000 per year. Excluding part time positions and internships, only two positions of (Recreation Leader I and II) have a salary range under that amount, based on the listing provided on the city website.
City of West Hollywood payroll and benefit costs for 2000 through 2009 (actual), 2010 (budgeted), and 2011 to 2012 (proposed)
We compared some of the current positions and compensation to those of nearby cities in our previous story. Being competitive with those and other Westside cities was the primary rationale given by the city for the large increases in overall compensation costs over the last several years, but based on the few comparisons we made, it seems like we might actually pay more than those cities at the present time for the positions we benchmarked. But how do the current compensation rates compare to historical rates?
Bray points out that the starting salary for a department director position back in 1999 was $78,720. Today, that starting salary seems to be almost double… $149,758. (Read Chris Bray’s post for additional detail and more examples.)
But he also makes another interesting point about factoring in career progression to understand what the net change to a city hall employee might be over the last decade or so. Supposing that someone started in a director role back in 1999 earning $78,720, and then through growth made it to the top of the pay scale in that same job title today, they could potentially be making almost $100,000 more today than they did back in 1999 (or $175,831).
And that could actually be a conservative estimate, as one might assume that growth by an employee could very well earn them promotions to even higher job titles with even larger salary ranges. That kind of progression is expected of good employees, at least by a large number of companies in the private sector.
All of this seems to indicate a surprising amount of growth in individual compensation at city hall. It may not be as surprising if further analysis, along with comment and additional data from city hall, can show that employees were under-compensated in the past, and that the current levels of compensation are fair and competitive. (An additional question is if compensation levels that the City is trying to compete with have been spiraling out of control based on circular competitive analysis, rather than actual market conditions that factor in qualified talent being available elsewhere.)
The previous benchmarking we did against other nearby cities at the very least raises the question if pay levels have now reached the point of over-compensation. Anecdotal evidence, such as paying an entry level clerical worker $42,911 to $54,832 for a job requiring essentially no experience or major qualifications, seems to indicate that could be the case.
Previously: City Hall Payroll Doubled in 10 Years, Jobs Pay $50K+
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I am glad that you are at least looking into this and reporting it, as there has been 0 transparency at city hall salary wise of otherwise for the last 25 years. They have always had a very rude, condescending attitude toward such inquiries, as if it was noone’s business but theirs. I hope you will continue this expose’. I think the people of West Hollywood have been too intimidated to effect any semblance of control of the West Hollywood city government up till now, but it looks like some momentum is growing to change that. Thank you, please continue your good work.
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