Update: The employees discussed in this article later agreed to dramatically less-generous pension benefits for future hires.

Little boys are always telling their parents they want to be garbage men when they grow up. Turns out it’s not a bad idea, judging by the pay and benefits given to rubbish collectors and other blue-collar public employees across Orange County.

The Watchdog has devoted lots of ink to $100,000-plus government salaries, and we wondered: If head honchos are raking in the dough, could rank-and-file workers also be getting great compensation?

Surprise, surprise, the answer is yes, very much so.

Take Newport Beach, where trash workers earn average salaries of $59,000 annually and can retire at 55 with 75 percent of their salary each year for life, after 30 years of service.

If you throw in overtime, you’ll find garbage collectors making up to $85,000 in Newport.

That compares mighty favorably with Orange County’s average salary of $52,000 – not counting the health coverage, time off and pension plans.

Other examples:

*In Huntington Beach, a painter – whose job description talks of covering graffiti and cleaning brushes – took home $65,000 last year, and received comparable benefits to those described above.

*In Laguna Beach, a staff of seven “parks gardeners” – mid-level landscapers – have average salaries of $60,000. Again, similar benefits apply.

Entry-level workers could earn much less, based on pay scales, but the Watchdog found few examples of employees making the minimum.

All 15 of Huntington Beach’s “maintenance service workers” – who do everything from cleaning to street repairs – banked more than the $43,000 minimum last year. Eleven of them – likely through overtime – took home more than the $53,000 maximum base salary.

Apples-to-apples comparisons with the private sector are difficult, but the city compensation appears to stack up quite well.

Salary.com, which collects pay data, says a janitor in Newport Beach can expect a maximum of $35,000 annually. Craigslist ads for custodians in the area are in the same ballpark, with a night janitor opening in Huntington Beach recently posted at $16 an hour, or $33,000 annually.

Yet at Newport Beach City Hall, “facilities maintenance workers” are making up to $73,000 including overtime, plus all the benefits mentioned above.

We called our towns to chat about the pay – and whether they, ahem, have any openings – and here’s what we found.

Laguna Beach City Manager Ken Frank was very aboveboard, quickly agreeing that his town pays lower-tier workers well and making sure The Watchdog knew it.

“I believe that our parks gardeners are paid, if not at the top, within the Top 3 of Orange County cities,” he said, adding that clerical and sewage workers also are up there.

The reasons? Residents expect “a high level of service,” and manual labor doesn’t pay people enough to live in Laguna, so they need money to commute, Frank said. “If we need to keep people, we need to offer them something to make the drive.”

In Huntington Beach, city spokeswoman Laurie Payne said, “I don’t know if it’s fair to compare private sector with public sector. … Private sector may offer a different retirement package that they don’t have to disclose.”

To this, the Watchdog notes that many private sector workers rely on 401(k) plans, and that many employers suspended matching contributions during the recession.

Payne replied by suggesting that these workers don’t have desirable jobs, so good pay makes up for hard work. “How many people do you know who want to go into the sewer system and clean that stuff up?” Payne asked.

In Newport, spokeswoman Tara Finnigan noted that city trash workers don’t use automated trucks, so they’re doing serious heavy lifting. Other job descriptions – including ones that outline mostly janitorial duties – might not reflect all responsibilities, she added.

When it comes to whether such compensation is needed to retain lower-level workers, Finnigan declined to make a “sweeping statement,” but noted that the city is privatizing its street sweeping and looking at other outsourcing, including parking meter operations.

Sometimes, keeping people on the city payroll is essential for accountability, she said, pointing to a failed privatization effort a few years back. “They had a great, low bid on people cleaning the restrooms (at the beach). It lasted about a month. People were furious.”

Resident Ed Reno, who rhapsodized about privatization during a bid for Newport Beach City Council this year, said “there’s no question government isn’t run like a private business” and that change is “way past due.”

“A lot of these positions in the private sector could be done at the same high quality, at a much more responsible cost to the taxpayer,” Reno said.

More cities stuff:

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