About a third of the employees at the Marin County Civic Center earned at least $100,000 last fiscal year, with 145 officials getting more than $150,000 — including 21 who topped $200,000.
A new study indicates that 625 employees, or 31 percent of the regular full-time county workforce, earned more than $100,000.
About 472 employees, or 23 percent of the workforce, made between $75,000 and $100,000, and 675 employees, or 33 percent, earned between $50,000 and $75,000.
Although the study indicates that 947 employees, or 46 percent of the workforce, earned less than $75,000, big checks for top managers lifted the average county paycheck to $84,650.
Some 895 employees, or 44 percent of the workforce, got more than the average salary. The average tab for employee benefits was $31,347.
Jorge Villalobos, a labor analyst with the state Employment Development Department, had no comment on the payroll figures, but noted that average annual pay in Marin last year amounted to $61,100.
A statistical audit of the county’s payroll by Vladimir Matyurin, a senior payroll accountant in the office of Finance Director Roy Given, was spurred by a detailed public information request from the Independent Journal. The audit did not involve courthouse employees on the state payroll, which covers 120 Hall of Justice staffers. Some 21 employees there make more than $100,000, including Superior Court judges who earn $189,041.
The newspaper request covered base salary as well as overtime and other special pay, including shift pay, assignment pay, bilingual pay, auto allowance pay, uniform allowance and pay in lieu of fringe benefits. The figures covering actual payments last fiscal year do not include a pay raise of from 3 to 4 percent county supervisors gave most employees this fiscal year.
County Administrator Matthew Hymel said the county must provide competitive pay to attract a vibrant workforce, and noted this year’s pay raise marked only the second in seven years.
“It is worth noting that county employees did not receive salary increases five of the last seven years,” Hymel said. “Given the high cost of housing in Marin, it is important that our salaries remain competitive so that we can hire and retain a quality workforce to best serve our community,” Hymel added. “New hires are less likely to live in Marin. Only 30 percent of our new hires live in Marin as compared to half of our current workforce.”
The top 100
About 10 percent of the county’s $173 million payroll and $64 million benefit tab for 2,004 full-time workers went to the 100 highest-paid employees, or just 5 percent of the workforce.
The top 100 earned an average $182,699, with benefits costing an average of an additional $56,840 each. They included 40 employees who clocked overtime averaging $50,218 each.
The top 10 overtime earners included six firefighters, three deputy sheriffs and a community development associate civil engineer. The 10 ran up a total $725,000 bill for extra work. Overall, the county paid about $9.4 million in overtime to 1,095 regular full-time and other employees. Regular salaries drive pension costs, but overtime pay is not part of pension calculations.
Top overtime earner was Tamalpais Fire Crew Superintendent Tim Walsh, whose $112,145 overtime bill was reimbursed by the state for battling out-of-county wildfires. The overtime pay, along with other allowances and a regular annual salary of $130,103, put his cash compensation for the year at $247,414, making him the third highest-paid county employee. Benefits for Walsh cost another $67,394.
Walsh joined nine other firefighters on the list of 21 Marin officials earning more than $200,000, with all firefighters getting state overtime except Chief Jason Weber, who earned total pay of $211,195.
The $200,000 club
County Administrator Hymel headed the Civic Center payroll with a $248,000 salary that rose to $263,298 with cash perks including a $9,422 auto allowance. His benefit package including pension tab cost another $79,617. Hymel’s regular salary was less than the $254,000 pension his predecessor, former administrator Mark Riesenfeld, got last fiscal year.
In addition to Hymel and Walsh, others on the $200,000 pay list at the Civic Center, with total pay including cash perks listed first (followed by regular base salary in parenthesis), followed by the additional cost of fringe benefits, include:
County Counsel Steven Woodside, $252,161 ($216,739) $6,038; medical director Craig Lindquist, $242,530 ($239,840) $74,427; District Attorney Ed Berberian, $230,480 ($212,796) $62,868; pension chief Jeff Wickman, $226,880 ($217,458) $71,475; former health chief Larry Meredith, $223,351 ($173,406) $50,868; Public Defender Jose Varela, $222.,980 ($210,758) $68,994;
Also: Sheriff-Coroner Robert Doyle, $219,928 ($202,787) $85,963; mental health medical chief Lawrence Lanes, $218,409 ($213,701) $63,774; Battalion Chief Jeremey Pierce, $217,924 ($165,953) $67,083; senior fire Capt. Todd Overshiner, $213,377 ($137,104) $57,331; fire Capt. Jake Rosebrock, $212,844 ($124,739) $59,625; fire Chief Jason Weber, $211,195 ($195,925) $80,067; Public Works Director Raul Rojas, $212,733 ($203,311) $68,380; finance chief Roy Given, $208,085 ($198,662) $66,420; Health Officer Dr. Matthew Willis, $207,107 ($207,107) $66,379; fire Capt. Jesse Rudnick, $204,478 ($115,873) $55,841; senior fire Capt. Kevin Engler, $203,596 ($137,200) $66,605; fire Capt. Mark Burbank, $201,790 ($125,449) $52,556; and fire Capt. Gregory Cornett, $200,897 ($124,552) $62,705.
Overall, 33 county employees, half of them firefighters, posted total pay and benefit packages costing more than $250,000 each, with four topping $300,000: Administrator Hymel, $342,915; medical director Lindquist, $316,957; fire crew superintendent Walsh, $314,808 and sheriff Doyle, $305,891.
At the bottom of the county’s full-time regular hire salary scale was the position of library aide, earning $13.65 an hour for a salary of $28,483 a year and a benefit package that cost another $16,630.
Some 272 employees, or 13 percent of the workforce, earned less than $50,000 a year.