State website lists cities’ and counties’ employee compensation
The state launched a website Monday on which Californians can see how much money cities and counties pay their workers, but dozens of municipalities have failed to file the information and could face fines of up to $5,000 unless they comply.
The website was created by State Controller John Chiang in response to the Bell salary scandal. Users can search for the salary, pension benefits and other compensation for more than 594,000 city and county employees throughout California.
“The absence of transparency and accountability invites corruption, self-dealing and the abuse of public funds,” said Chiang, who is running for reelection. “This website will help taxpayers scrutinize local government compensation and force public officials to account for how they spend public resources.”
Chiang said that he is requiring 828 transit, waste disposal, fire and police protection special districts to provide the same information by Dec. 13 and that he will expand the website by June to include payroll data on the other 2,535 independent special districts.
He said that some local government agencies have been slow to respond. The website lists 66 cities and counties that had not yet met the requirement for submitting payroll information.
As of Monday, Calabasas, South El Monte and Vernon were among the cities that had not filed the information, Chiang’s office said. The Los Angeles Times has its own database of city manager compensation at latimes.com/bell.
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