Front Page  »  

Who are the highest paid city employees in SLO County?

November 1, 2020

By Karen Velie

While six of the seven cities in San Luis Obispo County are asking for sales tax increases to make up for revenue lost during the coronavirus, administration costs take a large bite out of their budgets.

Once again, San Luis Obispo employees top the list of highest paid city employees in the county. SLO city attorney Christine Dietrick takes the number one spot with $376,602 in pay, benefits and pro-rated pension funds.

CalCoastNews evaluated earnings information from Transparent California, a public pay and pension database, to determine the four top-paid employees in each of the seven cities in SLO County. The totals include salary, benefits and pro-rated pension funds.

Compensation information for San Luis Obispo, Atascadero, Paso Robles and Pismo Beach is from 2019. The data for Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay is from 2018, the last time those cities filed with Transparent California.

 

Four highest paid employees from each of the seven cities in SLO County

 

City                      Pay/Benefits    Title                        Name

San Luis Obispo $376,602 City Attorney Christine Dietrick
San Luis Obispo $368,573 Fire Captain Mark Vasquez
San Luis Obispo $358,869 Police Chief Deanna Cantrell
San Luis Obispo $343,626 City Manager Derik Johnson
Pismo Beach $301,913 City Manager James Lewis
Atascadero $300,255 City Manager Rachelle Richard
Arroyo Grande $295,270 CD Director Deborah Malicoat
Paso Robles $287,645 ES Manager Jonathan Stornetta
Paso Robles $284,339 City Manager Thomas Frutchey
Arroyo Grande $281,123 City Manager Jaes Bergman
Arroyo Grande $272,495 Police Chief Beau Pryor
Pismo Beach $266,917 Police Chief Cristopher Miller
Paso Robles $263,200 Police Chief Ty Lewis
Paso Robles $256,980 Executive Manager Julie Dahlen
Atascadero $256,688 Police Chief Jerel Haley
Grover Beach $254,413 City Manager Matthew Bronson
Morro Bay $250,588 Fire Chief Steven Knucles
Atascadero $249,529 Fire Chief Casey Bryson
Morro Bay $246,272 City Manager Scott Collins
Arroyo Grande $244,593 Police Commander Michael Martinez
Morro Bay $236,640 PW Director Robert Livick
Grover Beach $236,557 Police Chief John Peters
Pismo Beach $223,452 PW Director Benjamin Tide
Grover Beach $225,130 Admin Services Gaya Chapman
Pismo Beach $219,568 Admin Services Nadia Feeser
Atascadero $218,075 Fire Captain Dean Pericic
Morro Bay $216,260 Police Chief Gregory Allen
Grover Beach $205,756 CD Director Bruce Buckingham

 


Loading...
Related:


37 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

San Luis Obispo city/county government. Come for the weather, stay for the money.


11

These salaries are obscene but that’s only half the story. The pensions they will receive are often well in excess of $100,000 a year, for life!


It’s time to end the fleecing of municipal taxpayers. I am confident there are many well-qualified people who would jump at the chance to move to this county and work for much less, like people in the private sector. And let me point out, it is not the rank and file workers but the upper management who are creating these problems.


22

No wonder why Dietrick does whatever she darn well pleases. She thinks because she gets paid so much, anything she does is acceptable.

These exhorbitant salaries are ridiculous. ANd I’m sure they are all looking for their pay raises. hmmm for Dietrick a simple 5% increase is $18, 830.10!!

Vasquez – 5% = $18,428.65

Cantrell – 5% = $17,943.45…this is the biggest joke of all, how much was her penalty for leaving the gun in the bathroom? I’m sure that didn’t hurt at all! I wonder if she is taking a pay hike or pay decline in her new job?

Johnson – $17,181.30 is his 5% raise.

Thier Simple 5% raise is more $ than some people on disabitlty get all year!


24

Yes those salaries are outrageous but so is the cost of living here…and that high cost of living has come about by a lack of new home construction and an over regulated permit process and a so called green zone…so if you are complaining about these salaries and you have supported no growth candidates you may want to rethink your position one way or the other….


-11

As sad as it is – this is not new information. The extremely outlandish salaries and benefits that most of the top city employees make is 100% exactly why there are sales tax increases on the ballot this year.

I agree with all who said this system sucks and continues to take advantage of every hard-working resident of this county. Unfortunately, this happens in almost every county and city in California.

We can all be mad, we can all roll our eyes and say how bad it is; but we still go the ballot box and give them more. So why in God’s name do you think they will suddenly change?

As I have stated in other comments “Pigs will not eating as long as someone is filling the through –

stop filling the trough is the one and only answer.”

If we, as citizens and over-taxed residents, want change – then we have to make it happen ourselves. Hopefully all of you have voted against any and all tax increases, I know I have.


31

They don’t get these high salaries without your elected city council giving it to them. Think about that before you decide who to vote for!!!!!!


47

The president of the United States makes around $400,000 and the vice president makes $230,000. Just saying.


31

Doesn’t our current president make $0?, I understand he donates his salary.


32

We pay the City Of San Luis Obispo Attorney $376,602.00 for the entire year, a realtor who passed a weekend crash course can do better with allot less head aches. Although I detest government waist, the deacons of our local governments can earn their pay if they enforce that money be spent on the public infrastructure, not the regulatory cottage industries that plague our budgets. Additionally, we need to put a stop to interagency fines for the purpose of funding each other.


-31

That is flat out false. A good realtor maybe grosses that much after minimum twenty years in business. Then they have expenses, then they have to pay 15.3% self-employment tax, then they have to pay for health insurance and finally they have to fund their retirement. A realtor would need to gross over $500,000 every year to even come close to these kind of numbers.


9

The main point here I take away is, these people are our neighbors, this list has Democrats and Republicans, many only have a BA or not even that, and are screwing us.


32

I do agree that these salaries are outlandish…but many people with no degree at all make far more money than any of these city employees. A college degree has very little value, or meaning, in our current society. Someone can get a PhD in Sociology at Yale and make far less than an 8 year old reviewing toys on You Tube. However, they are almost guaranteed to leave with the same political philosophies as you. Your continual references to college education are nothing more than ad hominem attacks and only highlight your arrogance and narcissism!


-16

Sorry, I tend to quote academic studies and peer reviewed Journals. Sorry to scare you with data. Facts piss people off sometimes. Ie, you.


-12

A college degree has very little value, or meaning, in our current society. Someone can get a PhD in Sociology at Yale and make far less than an 8 year old reviewing toys on You Tube.


Pretty frail strawman there. Compare the aggregate earnings of Yale PhDs against Youtube Toy Reviewers for any given year and there really will be no argument worth making.


Now there’s an argument to be made of there being little value in an Associates Degree from a community college, other than some gain of self-confidence and knowledge.


However, when it comes to life achievements, future earnings outlook, personal network growth, etc. — a PhD from Yale is a crowning achievement. To downplay that just reads as another anti-intellectual, which is a weird hill to die on, but I must admit I enjoy watching the show.


14
1 2 3