Pay it forward

AT A TIME of tight budgets and declining state revenues, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to give 49 of California’s top bureaucrats whopping raises, some as much as 27%, is ... eminently sensible. Yes, we know we’re supposed to be outraged, but Schwarzenegger has obviously reached the same conclusion we have: Competitive salaries keep good people working in state government.

Nobody is supposed to get rich working for the public. And a salary of more than $169,000 a year for the head of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection may seem extravagant. But the state of California is a $100-billion operation, and it needs people of experience and accomplishment to run its departments. Being penny-wise now with the experts who head the state’s agencies could very soon turn pound-foolish.

This is not a case of funneling public cash to favored friends of the governor -- friends who perform little or no public service but instead guard Schwarzenegger’s political flanks. Cabinet secretaries and other top appointees are supposed to make their departments run more efficiently. That’s a skill that requires substantial expertise, and that expertise commands a price. If those officials do their jobs well, the savings they provide should easily outstrip the extra pay they make. Even with the raises, by the way, they will earn less than their counterparts in the private sector.

They also will earn less than many of their counterparts in smaller governments across the state. Members of the Los Angeles City Council and county Board of Supervisors are paid $171,648 a year -- more than most top state officials and more than any other city council members in the nation. Sheriff Lee Baca gets $259,587 a year.

That doesn’t mean state officials deserve more, or even that local officials deserve what they get. But it illustrates in part how hard it is to attract top talent to helm the state.

For an avowed fiscal conservative, Schwarzenegger has appeared rather generous with his top aides. He also saved taxpayers some money by dipping into his campaign war chest to award members of his inner circle with raises and bonuses for helping to get elected. But that act, paradoxically, was troublesome because it smudged the line between public service and political work.

Paying a bit more to keep and attract top-rate leadership makes sense -- even in tough financial times. Now, as always, Californians have every right to insist that their higher-paid officials go the extra mile to produce more and better service.