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Controller Releases City and County Compensation Website

SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang today unveiled a new website listing the salary, pension benefits and other compensation for more than 594,000 city and county employees throughout California.

In August, the Controller announced new requirements for cities and counties to submit the wage and compensation data to his office. The Controller is extending this requirement to other state and local public agencies so that by June 2011, the compensation information for all special district and state employees also will be accessible on the Controller’s website.

“The absence of transparency and accountability invites corruption, self-dealing, and the abuse of public funds,” said Chiang. “This website will help taxpayers scrutinize local government compensation and force public officials to account for how they spend public resources.”

The Local Government Compensation Reporting website covers elected officials as well as public employees. It includes the following information for each position:

• Minimum and maximum salary ranges;
• Actual wages paid;
• The applicable retirement formula;
• Any contributions by the employer to the employee’s share of pension costs;
• Any contributions by the employer to the employee’s deferred compensation plan; and
• Any employer payments for the employee’s health, vision and dental premium benefits.

In addition, the website will show employees who hold multiple positions within a single local agency.

Eighty-three percent of all cities and counties successfully complied with these new reporting requirements. A list of cities and counties that failed to do so can also be found on his website. Each non-complying city or county could face a penalty of $5,000. Seventy-four local governments submitted incomplete or unformatted records, and the Controller’s office is currently working to collect the appropriate data. The website will be updated weekly with new information received from local governments.

This week, the Controller will mail letters to 828 transit, waste disposal, fire and police protection special districts requiring the submission of the same payroll information by December 13. Over the course of several subsequent phases, the remaining 2,535 independent special districts will be subject to these same new reporting requirements. The Controller anticipates completing the website with all special district and state employee information by June of 2011.

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