A former police chief in Hawthorne and the city manager in Gardena were among those singled out by the nonprofit Transparent California this week for receiving exceptionally high compensation and benefits in 2018, mostly as a result of paid, unused leave time.

Former Hawthorne police Chief Robert Fager, who retired in October, reportedly earned $717,258 in total pay and equivalent benefits last year.

Meanwhile, Gardena City Manager Ed Medrano earned a reported $620,546 in total pay and benefits in 2018, according to the group that released its latest round of public employee salary data this week on its website TransparentCalifornia.com.

“I’m kind of jaded because I’ve been looking at this so long,” Transparent California Executive Director Robert Fellner said. “At more than $700,000, that sort of stood out.”

Another official highlighted in the group’s latest data release was former Lancaster City Manager Mark Bozigian, who left in December and earned a combined $756,000 in total compensation last year, including $330,500 in unused leave. Neither Bozigian nor a representative from the city of Lancaster could be reached Monday.

Hawthorne’s highly compensated chief

In the case of most publicly available salary information, the numbers do not always tell the whole story. Fager, for example, received annual compensation of roughly $220,000, which includes a base pay of $197,000 in addition to some incentives, according to Hawthorne City Manager Arnie Shadbehr.

“His one-time before tax leave payout of $328,279 was accumulated leave time over 28 years,” Shadbehr said in a statement Monday. “Normally the IRS takes away 40% of it before the city issues the check.”

Fager is also listed as receiving $146,942 in benefits, which includes costs the city pays to the insurance companies, the state of California and other entities, according to Shadbehr. In addition to his pay package, the city agreed to cover the full cost of Fager’s and his wife’s health insurance for the remainder of his life.

The average full-time Hawthorne city worker received roughly $160,000 in pay and benefits last year, according to a news release issued by Transparent California on Monday. Transparent California is an offshoot of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, which describes itself as a “nonpartisan, no-profit think tank that promotes policy ideas consistent with the principles of limited government, individual liberty and free markets.”

Gardena’s top earner in 2018

In Medrano’s case, he is listed as receiving a base pay of $282,000 in 2018. He also received $210,000 in accrued unused leave time, including vacation, holiday and sick time.

Medrano, who has worked for the city for 32 years, first as a police cadet, was serving as police chief in 2009 when the recession hit and the city instituted a hiring freeze, Gardena Chief Fiscal Officer Ray Beeman said.

“Instead of hiring a community development director or director of public works, he took over the responsibility for those positions,” Beeman said.

For five years, Medrano held three positions: police chief, public works director and community development director. For three more years, he continued as police chief and community development director. Medrano was appointed city manager in 2017.

Changes underway

Medrano said the city has put policies in place to prevent the type of accrued leave from which he personally benefited. The city has instituted salary freezes and is negotiating with union leaders currently to cap the amount of accrued leave time, Medrano said.

“I know our community will probably see that and say, ‘wow.’” Medrano said on Monday. “As a result, we are fixing this moving forward, and I think we’re being very proactive. The reality is something has to give. I wasn’t the decision-maker then. Certainly now I have an opportunity to change some things.”

Currently, the city has $23.5 million in reserves, or rainy-day fund, representing about 40% of its annual general budget, Beeman said. The city is saving for a big-ticket project, possibly an aqueduct center or a new police station.

In releasing the salary information, Transparent California’s Fellner said it was an opportunity to highlight a growing problem in California, that of accrued paid leave time. While most workers in the private sector are unable to cash out unused sick time, public sector employees often do have this opportunity, Fellner said.

In Hawthorne, for instance, Police Department managers have the ability to roll over up to 1,152 hours of unused sick time. Executive managers at City Hall can cash out up to 120 hours of sick leave annually. Sick leave payouts for regular municipal employees is more limited.

Fellner said the data reinforced a common theme, that many of California’s highest paid public workers come from some of the state’s poorest areas.

“You read these arcane contracts and people don’t know what they mean. But they are costs that are built in,” Fellner said. “Those costs are there and they apply to everyone.”