The Orange County Grand Jury is poking around in the famously-feathered finances of local water districts, asking for lists of vendors, consultants and lobbyists, as well as other documents.
We at The Watchdog like to poke around here as well, and offer up these fun facts for the Grand Jury and other interested parties:
- FUN FACT OF THE DAY NO. 1: It costs $3 million a year just to pay the general managers of Orange County’s dozen water-related special districts.
- FUN FACT OF THE DAY NO. 2: The highest-paid GM is Paul Jones at Irvine Ranch Water District, who gets $327,398 in total compensation. (His district serves 330,000 people, who pay about $1 each for his services.)
- FUN FACT OF THE DAY NO. 3: The lowest-paid GM is Dave Noyes of the Serrano Water District, who gets $184,600 in total compensation. (His district serves 6,500 people, who pay about $28 each for his services).
We have seen “Chinatown,” so we are familiar with water and all of its attendant intrigue here in Southern California.
But still. It’s puzzling that, in a county as compact as ours, it takes 17 city water districts and 10 
independent water districts and two independent get-the-water-to-the-people water management districts to quench our thirst.
I mean, how many electric companies do we have? There’s just one major player (Southern California Edison), and a few smaller ones (San Diego Gas & Electric, Anaheim City, Piedmont),
To be fair, several water and sewer districts have consolidatied since the county bankruptcy in 1994 (when we were shocked by how much cash said districts had to invest in the county treasury).
One could argue, however, that there is still much room for improvement.
We’ll tell you more about the GM salaries over the coming weeks, with charts and all that jazz. (Some districts and The Watchdog are still niggling over numbers - getting everyone to provide apples-to-apples numbers is a bit like herding cats, but we shall persevere).
More Watchdog:
- Millions misspent by Irvine-based California Avocado Commission
- County’s head honcho makes $370,000; is he a bargain?
- Hollywood ending eludes evicted Salvation Army kettle - or does it?
- Many county workers enjoy generous benefits
- Union official offers ‘ground fire from the guys in the cheap seats’
- In OC, $41,000 up front for ‘free and fair’ election
- Union executive’s paycheck rivals that of county supervisors
- The Pink Slips Cometh
- Employee union at center of county tussle saw fortunes rise
- Ousted AIG chief laments, ‘What are you guys DOING?!’
- Are elections purposefully avoided at Irvine Ranch Water District?
- Nuclear regulators: Concerns over San Onofre remain
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Teri, what’s included in this total compensation figure? (With the county CEO, it seemed like the figure included the cost of benefits, but which ones? I’d like to see a breakdown, at least to say how much is pay and how much is benefits)
Notablity the article points to the fact that many of the districts can be consolidated to reduce management and other releated cost. It article sure seems to make the case. Far as salarys, by the printed numbers, it is a lot of money to pay someone. A heck of a lot more than I make. Then without futher review, These managers just may be worth it. I am happy to see the Watch Dog Group brings these important issues forward for public scrutiny,
6500 and this guy is making that much? That’s about as many people that live in my housing tract…. sounds like it’s time to make some more consolidations
oh, so they’re the ones buying the clearance Lamborghinis… all makes sense now!!
Well, I don’t make $327,398 a year. Then again, I’m not qualified to run a water district. Maybe one day, through education and hardwork, I will be, then I too, will be competitive to get a job that pays that much.
How about the lobbyists that convinced the water district to up the level of flouride in our water… a chemical that has proven to disrupt the human body, cause dental flourisis… ect.
So they sold thier souls for some cash flo… kudos on being ahems.
Ricky - We’ll be publishing a chart that shows the breakdown of compensation in categories such as salary, performance bonus, auto allowance, deferred comp, and benefits next week. Stay tuned.
OC has a lot of school districts, too. So what? Nobody’s paying for anybody else’s water district, and it’s better to have agencies like this divided up and decentralized — despite some inefficiencies from overlapping functions. Would you want one water district for the whole state, run from Sacramento?
Teri Sforza,
You folks at the OCR are doing a wonderful job. The public investigative reporting is the reason I subscribe. Otherwise I would cancel tomorrow. Keep the news flowing on these scoundrels. Pile it on! The more the merrier. How dare they think they deserve their big pay hikes and lofty benefits when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported that the average paycheck in OC went up 0.2% last year when household inflation climbed over 5%! Somehow these government thugs think that they can squeeze more money from the taxpayer when the private sector generates their paychecks and we are barely keeping our head above water! Shine a spotlight on all of them! No one escapes!
What’s the point of this article? If a water district is serving its customers with clean water at low water rates then I think the person in charge is worth his/her weight in gold. Do we really need a single water district like the monopolies of the gas and electtic companies? I haven’t had any problems with my water bill, but I’ve had plenty with SCE and So. Cal Gas. Their bureaucries are horrendous and almost as bad as the government. Why don’t you go after them?
Thatchmo,
I never have problems with the clerks at 7-eleven either. Most are very competent and have me in and out of the store in the matter of minutes. Ask them where an item is located and they point right to it. If I need to cash in a lotto ticket I get my money without delay. And most are polite and very friendly. But do I think they deserve more than $10 an hour. Not really. Do I think a water district manager of Irvine deserves to make OVER $100,000 MORE than the Vice-President of the United States. Absolutely not. It’s a joke!
ocobserver-
If you want to compare someone who sells slurpies and frozen burritos with persons who manage multi-million and sometimes billion dollar operations with hundreds of employees, go ahead. I think most of them deserve their compensation just as any head of a large business or government agency would. As for making more than the US VP, most business executives, pro-athletes, entertainers, tv and movie personalities make more than that postion as well. I don’t think any US VP was worrying about how much they were going to be paid when they took office and probably would do it for much less if it was required. Most of them were already millionaires when they took office, or in the most recent example, became multi, multi-millionaires after they left office.
Thatchmo,
Some goof who manages the water flow in a small geographic area certainly doesn’t deserve over $300k a year no matter how you cut it. He doesn’t make the water for gawd sakes! He only makes sure it comes out of your pipes when you turn the faucet on! How complicated could that be? The system has been in operation for a century! All he has to do is maintain it! All of ‘em are overpaid bureaucrats who probably don’t have the smart to operate a cash register in a 7-eleven! We know how they get their jobs! THROUGH NEPOTISM AND CONNECTIONS!
If we are willing to have a few sewer spills a year we could save a few bucks a month. I don’t live by the beach so who cares about a few turds on PCH and at the beach. I ain’t paying for the rich people with beach front houses.
We need to urgently pass a county-wide measure that controls the pay and perks for all the higher ups working in the County of Orange Government, from the CEO thru the BOS and down to the Adminstrative mangers.
If they don’t think they get paid too much, unlike what the taxpayers believe we need to immediate start a signature drive that controls their compensation and rids them of perks.
There is a special election in early 2009 so lets do it.
I would say given the current economic conditions and all these stories in the OC REgister regarding the pay and perks of these so called public servants, the OC voters would wait in a hour line just to sign a petition to put this measure to the voters.
Let’s do it … All these Water district execs, county execs, BOS need to cut it out the fat and since they are not willing to cut their pay and their fellow cronies, we need to do it.
If they don’t like it, too bad. They all can try their hand in the private sector or file for unemployment.
Every water district also has a Board of Directors who get paid to attend regular meetings once or twice a month. Some districts have other high paid executive staff, such as: Assistant General Manager, District Engineer, Human Resources, etc.
In addition to the cost of having a high paid executive staff and board members, there are many other costs of having individual water districts.
ocobserver
Your USE of exclamation POINTS! and CAPITAL letters! Certainly make your POINTS more valid than that of Thatchmo!
Seriously though, if any experienced executive is willing to run the Irvine Water District, with all the health and safety concerns of water/waste-water treatment and handling, state and federal regulations, local and regional politics, hundreds of employees and thousands of customers, for the wages of a 7-11 clerk, then I’m sure the IWD board is more than interested to read your CV and cover letter.
No, really, go ahead.
Teri,
Paul Jones may not be the highest paid GM. I heard that John Schatz of Santa Margarita Water District also moonlights as legal counsel for another water district in the Temecula area. Not that being a GM for the second largest water district in Orange County is a full time job.
Ladera Rancher
Are they hiring?
I’ll accept half that pay!