Salary Info Released For City Workers

Murrieta was among cities, counties, universities and special districts to submit salary, benefits and other compensation information for 2010 to the State Controller's office.

Controller John Chiang in December 2011 published the information to his website, which prior to that showed only 2009 compensation.

"Holding public officials accountable for how they manage public dollars relies heavily on transparency," Chiang said, in a news release. "The struggles of the City of Bell remind us that corruption and fiscal mismanagement are often the byproducts of keeping the public in the dark."

Chiang created the site in late 2010, after he ordered local governments to provide salary and other wage information for their employees to his office, according to the news release. 

In June 2011, he added 2010 compensation information for employees from the State of California and California State University System (CSU).

The website covers elected officials as well as public employees. The Controller's Office calculated salaries based on "total wages subject to Medicare taxes" as reported on employees' W-2 forms. The totals include overtime, vacation and cash payments for vacation, sick time and bonus leave.

Information regarding city salaries for Murrieta can be found here. The report shows information for 377 positions, from the city manager to the library to police and fire.

The number of Murrieta workers who earned more than $100,000 went up by 3.1 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to a report from The Press-Enterprise.

The city manager was paid $216,781 in 2010, according to the Controller's office. Other top earners were the assistant city manager, who made $177,019; the director of economic development, who earned $150,887; and the director of public works/engineering, who made $147,671.

Information reported by Murrieta showed the majority of those who were paid more than $100,000 in 2010 were in public safety.

Forty-four members of the Fire Department brought home more than $100,000—12 of those firefighter/paramedics and 13 engineers—most likely from overtime costs. This was in addition to three battalion chiefs, 16 captains and one fire chief.

In January 2011, the Murrieta Firefighters Association agreed to some temporary pay reductions.

In addition to the police chief, four captains, four lieutentants, 15 corporals and 10 sergeants, 39 police officers took home more than $100,000—also most likely from overtime costs.

In June 2011, for another year. Police Chief Mike Baray also said at the time that the department would not fill a vacant lieutenant position created by promotions.

City Hall workers continue to put in four-day work weeks, with Fridays considered furlough days.

Agencies that do not submit their payroll records to the Controller's office could face a non-compliance penalty of $5,000, according to the news release.

"The Controller’s office will continue to review and post the relevant data from these local governments as it is reported to the State."