Columnist Teri Sforza writes that some get health benefits worth 10 times more than their annual wages. Others get exactly nothing.
Can any amount of money make those meetings about potholes, permits, policy and public pay worth it? Can dollars and cents salve wounds inflicted by steady streams of verbal invective during public comment sessions?
It’s been a while since we sliced and diced pay data for elected mayors and city councilmembers, and as we’re helping a Corona del Mar High School student understand the glitz and glamour of accountability journalism, we figured a few hours with Excel spreadsheets might be enough to convince her to pivot to investment banking.
We found that public compensation for public service varies enormously from city to city in California — from close to a half-million dollars annually to exactly nothing. And it doesn’t always correlate with size.
The most recent data from the state controller shows that, although a terrific number of city council positions are part-time gigs, a terrific number of cities pay generous health and retirement benefits, nonetheless. Full-time benefits for (mostly, but not always) part-time work — not bad if you can get it.
The abyss between what cities pay in wages and what they pay in benefits can be stunning. The little city of Pleasanton, population less than 80,000, paid two councilmembers a wee $14,541 in wages — but forked out $58,683 each for their health benefits.
Glendale paid nearly $43,000 for one councilmember’s health benefits, as did Lancaster. And these jobs often come with “The Honorable” inserted before your name. Who can put a price tag on that?
The mayors in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego — where mayors run the show and city councilling is essentially a full-time gig — make the most, of course.
San Franciso’s mayor was No. 1 statewide, topping the list of more than 2,500 elected city council politicians. Total compensation was $443,954 — $357,084 in total wages, plus $86,870 in health and retirement benefits.
Next was Oakland’s mayor with total comp of $356,540; Los Angeles’ mayor with total comp of $354,583; and San Diego’s mayor, with total comp of $316,556. San Jose’s mayor, modest in comparison, had total comp of $246,966.
Perennial strange appearance near the top: Chula Vista’s full-time mayor, with total comp of $184,920. This city of 276,000 citizens (smaller than Irvine) has a charter that ties pay raises for elected officials to — wait for it — Superior Court judges. The mayor receives 66% of a judge’s salary, and the four part-time councilmembers make 40% of the mayor’s salary.
Go figure.
There are 34 cities in Orange County, and O.C. had the lowest average total city council comp among the big counties we looked at, at just $14,445. But the range was wide.
Irvine’s mayor was the big cheese, with total comp of $52,633 ($29,700 in total wages, plus $22,933 in health and retirement benefits).
Next up were councilmembers in Anaheim, with total comp of $47,548; Newport Beach at $45,666; Irvine again, at $45,278; and Santa Ana’s mayor, at $44,288.
At the opposite end of the spectrum was little, wealthy Villa Park, which pays its electeds exactly zero dollars. Villa Park now stands alone in the O.C. as having the only all-volunteer city council.
The city of Orange, for the past decade, eschewed all comp for the city council — a move taken after the Bell scandal in 2010 (where corrupt city officials paid themselves millions). But that has fallen out of favor. In 2021 the city council changed the law to allow for an optional $600 monthly stipend per councilmember, as well as reimbursement for incidentals. There was talk of restarting health benefits for councilmembers, but that was rejected. As of today, all five councilmembers are taking pay, a city spokeswoman said.
The most generous health benefits were furnished by San Juan Capistrano, where a councilmember’s plan cost $29,839 — more than eight times the wage of just $3,600. Two councilmembers and the mayor in Laguna Hills got health benefits worth $28,453 each, nearly four times the wage of just $7,484.
There are 88 cities in this enormous behemoth, and one of them is the second-largest in the nation.
L.A. city council types claimed 16 of the top 20 spots on the ranking, most getting $224,000 to $284,000 a year in total comp.
Sneaking in there at No. 16 was Inglewood’s mayor, with total comp of $134,149, and Carson’s mayor, at $123,201.
Long Beach’s mayor was down the list with total comp of $79,849, as was Pasadena’s mayor, at $75,455.
The average total comp for city officials in Los Angeles County was $30,298.
Several cities grant councilfolk nothing but the joy of personal satisfaction for their service, including Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Bradbury, La Habra Heights and Hidden Hills.
There are 28 cities in Riverside County, and Riverside city’s mayor topped the best-compensated list, with total comp of $101,288 ($90,864 in total wages and $10,424 in retirement benefits).
A city councilmember in Riverside came in at No. 2, with total comp of $72,103, followed by a Palm Springs city councilmember at $66,019; another Riverside city councilmember at $63,764; and La Quinta’s mayor at $60,559.
On average, elected city councilmembers received $24,264 a year in total comp in Riverside County.
Health benefits were quite the perk at some Inland Empire cities as well. San Jacinto’s mayor pro tem had health benefits costing $35,506, while wages were only $4,500. Coachella’s mayor had health benefits of $26,937, while wages were just $12,377.
There are 24 cities here, and San Bernardino’s mayor topped the list with $151,340 in total comp ($122,918 in total wages and $28,422 in health and retirement benefits).
Next up was Ontario’s mayor, with total comp of $93,150; Rialto’s mayor, at $77,065; Fontana’s mayor, at $63,942; and an Ontario councilmember at $60,938.
The average total comp for San Bernardino County cities was $24,466.
And those health benefits! Fontana, Big Bear Lake and Rialto were the generous ones here, paying between $23,526 and $26,533 for councilmembers’ medical insurance.
To be clear, compensation for California’s thousands of city councilmembers and mayors is just a drop in the municipal bucket.
Pay and perks for these electeds cost cities $62.2 million, pocket change when you consider that expenditures were $100 billion, according to the controller’s most recent data. That’s less than 1%.
But fairness and equity and good government questions cling to the compensation question.
“The problem isn’t that electeds and other local government officials (e..g, city manager) are fairly compensated,” said Fred Smoller, political science professor at Chapman University.
“The problem is that we have too many cities and local government agencies — too much ‘small’ government. It’s like going backpacking with 300 pounds of ‘lightweight’ camping gear. Soon, all this ‘small’ government adds up.”
Orange County is the poster child here, according to Smoller, who has been watching local governments for decades.
“O.C. is a city but it holds onto a governing ‘operating system’ from the 19th century, when there were more cattle than people here,” he said. “An ‘update’ on OC 2.0 is long overdue.”
Look up your city councilmembers’ and mayor’s pay on our interactive database above or by downloading the data at https://bit.ly/4a5VkzG . We’ll be telling you about what those elected city attorneys and city clerks make soon.
