Something is wrong when the second-highest-paid employee of the county of Marin is a “fire crew superintendent.”
County Administrator Matthew Hymel, the county’s top executive, earns an appropriate annual salary of $257,336. With pension, health care and other benefits his total compensation is $356,720.
Coming in second, the fire crew superintendent enjoys total compensation of $344,155. That’s what it cost to get this fellow out the firehouse door. His total comp package is composed of a generous base salary of $135,591, pensions and health care benefits of $69,025, “other compensation” of $1,346 and overtime pay of an incredible $138,193.
(Note: I’m not including the names of the individual employees associated with compensation figures presented with the exception of the most senior levels of management. These folks have done nothing wrong. It’s the system, overly creative public employee unions and our elected officials who are responsible for these pay distortions. Curious readers can reference the website TransparentCalifornia.com where the names, job titles and total compensation are disclosed for every California city, county, special-purpose agency and school district.)
Marin County’s fire crew superintendent isn’t a lone aberration. Nor is county government an outlier. Out-of-control overtime pay is skewering employee compensation in multiple Marin agencies.
Overtime can be good and bad.
In Governing magazine, the journal of states and localities, Drummond Kahn, director of audit services for Portland, Oregon, offers, “If overtime is driven by workload and intelligently balanced, planned and documented, it can be a very effective tool.” But if it’s not used appropriately, Kahn said, “It can lead to paying more than needed to get the work done.” It can lead to overtime hoarders who work overly long days and put in subpar or unsafe performances.
The good news, according to Marin County Director of Finance Roy Givens, is that overtime pay is excluded from calculation of employee retirement benefits.
To be fair to the majority of public employees, rampant overtime is prevalent mostly among public safety workers. A review of San Rafael Schools shows that not one teacher received overtime, though fairly modest amounts were earned by front office and custodial workers.
Towns where special districts provide fire and police services have low overtime expenses. That includes Sausalito, Belvedere, Tiburon, Fairfax, Ross and frugal San Anselmo where overtime is scarce.
Independently elected fire and police directors whose agencies provide these cities’ safety service are the culprits.
Novato’s Fire Prevention District is notoriously generous. Chief Mark Heine takes no overtime but earns a $183,930 base annual salary, $63,504 in “other pay,” plus generous health insurance and retirement benefits for a total compensation package worth $410,741.
Of Novato Fire’s 81 employees, every single member, except for two clerical staffers, earned overtime. The small agency’s 2015 total overtime expenditure approached $2.8 million.
The city of Novato isn’t much better.
A Novato police corporal was the 10th-highest-paid city employee with a base of $93,025, plus $63,375 in overtime. Along with “other pay” and “fringe” benefits, taxpayers paid $209,423 for his services.
In San Rafael, five senior firefighters made more than Fire Chief Christopher Gray and City Manager Jim Schutz.
The top was a fire captain with a total compensation package costing $348,111, including a $107,936 base salary plus $109,386 in overtime.
Firefighters emphasize that often their overtime results from being called to fight wildfires in distant counties and that the state pays the cost.
This is a valuable service and its accompanying bonus comes with what can be a hazardous profession.
With that exception noted, excessive overtime is a sign of mismanagement and lack of oversight by elected governing boards.
Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes about local issues on Wednesdays and Sundays in the IJ. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.
