City Corrects Employee Salary Information, Explains Deficit

After Patch ran an article in June about city employees’ salaries in the 2011-12 fiscal year budget and the city deficit, San Marino Finance Director Lisa Bailey contacted Patch to correct and further explain some of the information.

City Deficit

• The previous Patch article said San Marino has a deficit, but Bailey said it is not an operating deficit since it is due to the purchase of the Stoneman School property from the .

• “When you invest in capital you don’t expense it and spend cash out, you book an asset because you are getting something,” said Bailey. “It’s not cash going out like salaries.”

• Nevertheless, the city is projected to have an unrestricted fund balance deficit of $193,836 for the 2011-12 fiscal year and to have a deficit through the 2014-15 fiscal year, as outlined in the city’s mid-year budget review in March.

Community Services Director Salary

• The original article stated that Community Services Director Lucy Garcia was budgeted for $111,900 salary for the 2011-12 fiscal year and would work 20 hours a week. Patch obtained this information from the Recreation Department section of the city budget that showed the Community Services Director position comprising .5 FTE.

• One full FTE—Full Time Equivalent—equals a 40-hour workweek for 52 weeks, so .5 FTE would equal a 20-hour work week.

• Bailey told Patch it is incorrect that Garcia works only 20 hours a week, since the other half of her time is in the library budget, which accounts for another .5 FTE (20 hours a week) for the Community Services Director. Patch confirmed that the library budget accounts for half of Garcia’s work schedule, so Garcia in fact works 40 hours a week. She is still earning $111,900 salary and $119,733 including benefits.

• Garcia began working full-time in July 2009—the beginning of the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Police Chief Salary

• Patch’s June 23 article about the budget said that Chief Schaefer would be taking a pay cut and working less hours, as he stated at a City Council meeting.

• Bailey said it is important to note that while Chief Schaefer is working fewer hours at the San Marino Police Department, he is splitting his hours between the police and fire department and still working the same amount of total hours. Thus, his salary is not being cut in half. 

• PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) only allows Schaefer to work 960 hours a year since he is retired, Bailey said. Divided over 52 weeks, 960 work hours equates to 18.46 hours a week.  

• San Marino's Police Chief and Fire Chief can each earn from $12,086 to $15,107 a month, according to the city's Management Employees Schedule available on the homepage of the city's website and attached to this article in a PDF. Dividing $15,107 a month by a 40-hour workweek for 52 weeks equates with earning $87.15 an hour, so Chief Schaefer can earn $83,657.03 a year for working 18.46 hours a week.

• The budget shows the Police Chief position equaling .23 FTE, or 9.2 hours a week, which would be half of Schaefer’s work schedule. The .96 FTE for the fire chief in the fire department budget accounts for Schaefer's .23 FTE (the other half of his 18.46 workweek) and the remaining .46 is for a full-time fire chief, said San Marino City Manager Matt Ballantyne, who hopes to hire a new fire chief in January.

Assistant City Manager Salary

Assistant City Manager Cindy Collins, one of the higher paid city officials, works 88% percent of a full-time schedule, or 35.2 hours a week, and earns $127,368 salary and $136,284 with benefits as shown in the city’s financial transparency report covering fiscal years 2007-08 through 2009-10. Patch found this report on the city’s website homepage and shared it in the City Executives’… article. Bailey confirmed that Collins works 88 percent of a full-time schedule and earns that amount.