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Who are the highest paid SLO County officials, employees?

July 18, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

At a time San Luis Obispo County is dealing with staffing shortages, the county is paying some elected officials, department heads and employees more than $400,000 a year in total pay and benefits.

In an attempt to balance the budget, the SLO County Board of Supervisors first voted to reduce staffing and then stall a number of departments’ budget increases, leading to layoffs and staffing shortages in some departments. With an increase in murders and suspisious deaths in 2025, overtime pay at times exceeded salaries for those working in the coroner’s office.

For example, SLO County Sheriff Sgt. John Penaflor received $191,003 in overtime pay for a total in pay and benefits of $503,487, and Sgt. Clinton Bird received $172,224 in overtime pay for a total in pay and benefits of $464,740.

Penaflor and Bird are responsible for investigating sudden, unexpected, or violent deaths throughout the county. There were five alleged murders in SLO County in 2025.

Administrators determine proposed raises for management personnel by comparing salaries with five “similar” counties. The supervisors then vote to approve the proposed salary increases.

Supporters contend the “salary survey” method helps maintain competitiveness and prevent staff turnover. Opponents argue it has led to bloated salaries, and is unsustainable.

SLO County’s highest earners in 2025 (total pay and benefits)

1. Ian Parkinson, sheriff – $525,067
2. John Penaflor, sheriff sergeant – $503,487
3. Dan Dow, district attorney – $477,116
4. Clinton Bird, sheriff sergeant – $464,740
5. Penny Borenstein, former county health officer – $440,876
6. James Hamilton, auditor, controller, treasurer – $431,794
7. William Nicholson, undersheriff – $427,039
8. Matthew Pontes, county administrative officer – $425,558
7. John Diodati, director public works – $412,984
8. Eric Dobroth, asst. district attorney – $410,969
9. Jon Ansolabehere, county counsel – $401,959
10. Nathan Paul, sheriff chief deputy – $398,733

In all, the county employed 3,163 workers in 2025, according to Transparent California. More than half of the county’s budget is spent on current and former employees.

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21 Comments

How does Dan Dow make less than the Sheriff? Is this common?


4

These salary’s are obscene. Apparently there’s no connection between the requirements and tasks of the job and the pay. They cannot be justified with normal thinking and rational comparison to other jobs. The excuse always given is that other counties pay similar amounts. And if you don’t pay a competitive rate, you can’t hire the best people or existing employees will just quit. The problem is that this is like an insider trading situation. Self dealing. The people who set the salaries are motivated to push them up constantly and thus justify their own salaries being constantly increased. It’s a game the political

people play all the time. The excuse is that “we’re being competitive”. And since it’s only tax money (they simply consider the tax supply is unlimited) there’s no incentive to control wage growth. And aren’t these the same left wing liberals that hate the millionaires and all successful people? The hypocrisy is on a whole new level.


22

Yep. YOU get it. It’s that “well, look at ——- County; we must match or exceed them” to attract ‘qualified’ people. It’s a CON game. The only way to stop it is to elect Supervisors who understand this and will vow to stop it. In other words, no more Bruce Gibsons or Jimmy Pauldings.


12

compared to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo President Jeffrey Armstrong’s salary of $611,203…


11

Temporary 10% cut for all of them would be the right thing to do until they get our county back on a stable financial footing….

Its time the people hold their representatives responsible…. and penalize them when they fail…


18

Yes! 10% for Department heads, 7% for all mid management and 5% for rank and file. All for 24 months.


12

And here I thought the city employees were giving us a good fucking.


17

So clearly DA Dow your office doesn’t need more money, you just need to use the money you already get more responsibly, starting with with a big cut in you compensation.


11

Those salaries are incredible, especially when you realize most of the people listed are salaried and collect that salary whether they’re working 40 hours a week or not.


Penaflor and Bird are deputy sheriff sergeants. They are hourly employees versus salaried, like the sheriff or district attorney. They had to work overtime to earn that amount of money. This means they were at work during those hours and their supervisor(s) approved their working those extra hours.


24

This is not public service. This is the public serving them.


40

100%!!! This is not public service, this is fleecing the public!


14

Yes, it’s been going on too long.


3

Oh my gosh, we need to raise taxes to pay for this! Disaster awaits if we don’t raise taxes!


14

LOL!


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