SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has quietly given substantial raises -- some exceeding 23% -- to top state administrators, claiming they deserve increased compensation to keep pace with the private sector and local government agencies.
Last year, the governor used a new state law to raise the salary of his prisons secretary to $225,000, a 71% increase that made James Tilton among the highest paid officials in California state government. Now Schwarzenegger is approving hefty pay hikes for 49 other officials.
Cabinet secretaries, for example, will receive up to 22.7% more, and department directors up to 12.2%. The new salaries take effect April 1.
The largest percentage increase will go to Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Ruben Grijalva, whose pay will go from $133,732 to $169,500, about 27% more.
"For the state to deliver these essential services for Californians, it has to pay competitive salaries," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor's office. "Right now, that's not happening."
Schwarzenegger is permitted to set salaries at these levels under a bill written last year by then-Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles).
Wages throughout the state, in both public and private sectors, have been largely flat in recent years. A study last August by the Institute of Industrial Relations at UC Berkeley concluded that the average wage in California, adjusted for inflation, was 0.2% lower in 2006 than it was in 2003. The governor's raises coincide with a prediction by state officials of a shortfall of more than $726 million for the 2007-08 state budget.
"I'm glad the governor recognizes the value of public service," said J.J. Jelincic, president of the California State Employees Assn., which represents about 140,000 state workers. "It's a shame he doesn't recognize the value of the people who actually do the work."
With better pay available in county and city governments, Schwarzenegger administration officials said they need to raise salaries to attract the best candidates for top jobs in the state's massive bureaucracy.
The state Department of Personnel Administration, trying to document what its officials believed was the disparity in pay between state and local government officials, conducted a survey more than a year ago. It concluded that state pay is indeed lagging.
