The City of Santa Monica addressed recent media coverage Friday surrounding compensation received by some of its employees.
“Let me begin by saying: we never forget who we work for – you,” City Manager Rick Cole stated in a press release. “Let me add that the topic of public pay is a public issue and I welcome healthy scrutiny.”
The controversy, Cole notes, originated with a press release from Nevada-based public employee watchdog Transparent California, which Cole calls a “right-wing think tank.” Though Cole does not dispute their numbers, he takes issue with the inferences drawn and attempts to provide proper context.
Transparent California’s key assertion is true, but misleading. Their headline claimed that a total of 105 City workers “cleared” at least $300,000 last year. Of course, in ordinary usage, “cleared” means take-home pay, so no wonder many residents were astonished. Actually, the $300,000 figure used by Transparent California was not their take-home pay, nor even their total salaries, but the entire cost to the City of those employees -- combining their regular salaries, along with the cost of medical and all other benefits, overtime pay, City pension contributions and even payment of unused vacation time owed to retiring employees.
Santa Monica City salaries and benefits are above average for Southern California cities. What’s not true is that they are wildly out of line with other public employers. According to the California State Controller’s Public Pay website, the average employee wage cost of cities on the Westside is:
- Los Angeles $83,356
- Beverly Hills $79,179
- Culver City $74,285
- West Hollywood $72,906
- Santa Monica $72,379
In addition, while Transparent California included pension contributions in its compensation figures for Santa Monica Police, it did not do so for Los Angeles. As a result, their claim that Santa Monica’s police chief earns more than L.A.’s is also false, he said.
Cole further notes that Santa Monica remains one of the few California cities with a AAA rating (or equivalent) from all three credit rating agencies.
You can read the entire press release here.