233K is Top Pay at City Hall

Culver City's highest-paid city employee makes more than $230,000 a year, above average in the West but still less than a third of the $767,000 the city of Bell's former city manager earned, an amount that sparked public outcry and eventually led to his resignation in late July.

John Nachbar--Culver City's newest manager, from Overland Park, Kansas--will be the top earner at City Hall, with an annual income of $233,049.44, according to data posted on Culver City's website on Friday. Earlier this week, state controller John Chiang directed all cities and counties in California to provide a report of employees' and elected officials' salaries so they can be posted on the controller's website.

Nachbar's salary is higher than the 2009 national average of $138,563 for a city with between 25,000 and 49,000 inhabitants, said Michele Frisby, director of public information at the International City/County Management Association.

Nachbar's pay is above the $161,521 average salary in towns  in that population group in the West region, which includes California, Frisby added.

But his salary falls right in the middle of the average income range of $200,000 to $400,000 for California city managers for cities without regard to size.

"In considering salary, two important factors are manager tenure and the number of services delivered by the local government," Frisby said.

Nachbar will be paid less than Beverly Hills city manager Jeff Kolin, whose annual check comes in at $274,999. Kolin has held two city manager positions before his tenure in Beverly Hills, which has a total population of 35,983.

West Hollywood's data has not been released yet.

The next highest paid Culver City employees are Carol Schwab, city attorney, who is paid $209, 878.24 a year, and assistant city manager Martin Cole, who makes $186,224.48.

"None of us are making anywhere near what the people in Bell were making, nor will we ever make anywhere near what they were making," said assistant city manager Martin Cole. "Just to be clear, whenever Culver City sets salaries, it is done in an open and public process.

"The Culver City community is very involved. What seems to have happened in Bell just isn't going to happen in Culver City," he said. "The people in Culver City--as part of our checks and balances system--are playing their role, which is to participate in government."

Controversy arose in Bell when residents learned that City Manager Robert Rizzo was making almost $800,000 a year and that pay for each of four of five council members totaled about $100,000.

In contrast, each Culver City councilman makes $5,821.30 per year for his service, and as members of the Redevelopment Agency, they also get a $30 per Redevelopment Agency meeting stipend, which totals $120 maximum at four meetings per month. They do not have a vehicle allowance or a discretionary account.

When Culver City residents were asked about the city employee salaries, there were mixed reviews.

"It is interesting that our city manager is making considerably more than Fresno's city manager, which by land size is more than 90 times the size of Culver City," said resident Steven Gourley. Fresno's city staff posted their staff compensations on Friday as well, with a city manager salary at $189,500.

 At first look, resident Wena Dows said that the salaries seemed "generous." But when she compared city employee salaries with those of other cities she said, "I'd say the Culver City salaries are OK ... for now."

Regarding retirement, Culver City full-time employees and city council members who have served for a minimum of five years are covered under the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) in the "2.5 percent at 55 formula," Cole said.

That means their pensions will be 2.5 percent of their highest salary multiplied by the number of years of service. 

Health care options also fall under CalPERS, with three different tiers of choices: PERSSelect, PERSChoice and PERSCare, which is the most expensive of the three.

The city covers 95 percent of health-care insurance premiums, except for PERSCare, which gets a 70 percent coverage.

City employees also get their choice of seven different health care plans, including Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield.

And in terms of vacation, here's what employees get:

--One to four years of service: Vacation after one year, 80 hours per year.

--Five to 14 years: 120 hours of vacation per year.

--15 to 20 years: 160 hours vacation per year.

--21 years and thereafter: eight hours per year for each year of service.