BONANZA FOR BUREAUCRATS MORE THAN 50 STATE OFFICIALS EXPECTED TO GET RAISES OF UP TO 27 PERCENT.

Byline: MIKE ZAPLER and KATE FOLMAR

San Jose Mercury News 

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected today to announce pay raises of up to 27 percent for more than 50 top officials, saying the state must boost salaries to remain competitive against local governments that pay more.

The new salaries, taking effect April 1, won't cost taxpayers more, at least initially, but they will force state departments to make cuts or otherwise absorb the raises within existing personnel budgets.

The hefty raises -- 10 agency heads, for example, would see their annual salaries grow by 23 percent, to $175,000 -- come as Schwarzenegger preaches the need for fiscal restraint to end chronic budget shortfalls.

"Because these raises are purely discretionary," said Roger Niello of Sacramento, the ranking Republican on the Assembly Budget Committee, "it does make it difficult from a public-perception standpoint."

At the same time, Niello and others said, California needs to pay competitively to attract skilled managers to run large, complex bureaucracies.

"It's important for the folks running these agencies to be compensated fairly, and right now that's not the case," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor. He said the raises are "budget-neutral" and would help "recruit and retain the best and the brightest."

To justify the raises, officials compared salaries for top state agency jobs with similar positions in local government. For example, the California Highway Patrol commissioner oversees more than 10,000 employees and currently makes $142,584; the San Jose police chief, by contrast, supervises 1,789 workers and earns $207,418, according to the survey. Ten other county sheriffs and city police chiefs make more than the CHP head, and three of them earn at least $100,000 more, the survey found.

In at least one case, the salary survey appears to low-ball comparative wages.

In comparing health services directors, the survey uses a maximum salary of $172,152 for Santa Clara County. However, Kim Roberts, who is the chief executive officer of the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System, earns $285,744. She oversees the $1.5 billion, 6,000- employee system that encompasses the county hospital, public clinics, department of public health and other health services.

Kim Belshe, the state health and human services secretary, will soon earn $175,000. She has purview over a $74 billion budget, 11 departments and 33,000 staffers statewide.

The raises, ranging from 7 percent to 27 percent and costing up to $1 million total, would cover 52 Cabinet secretaries and department directors -- senior administrators who manage agencies such as health and human services, food and agriculture, and the California Highway Patrol. By contrast, most rank-and-file state workers are slated to receive a 3.3 percent raise in the next fiscal year.

Schwarzenegger's Cabinet secretaries (apart from the corrections chief) actually just got a raise -- an 8.5 percent bump Dec. 1, which brought their salaries up to $142,582. That money was supposed to make up for several lean budget years when there were no raises.

Before that, the last time a Cabinet secretary raise came was in August 2000, when salaries were boosted 4 percent.

The Legislature last year granted the governor unilateral power to award raises to senior administrators, a last-minute provision tucked into legislation granting a new contract to CHP workers. The salaries could reach up to $258,125, 125 percent of the governor's $206,500 salary (which he declines), though that's not being recommended. To avoid retirement "spiking," only a portion of the raises will count toward retirement each year.

Last summer, a Schwarzenegger aide said he only planned to use the newfound authority to raise the pay of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jim Tilton and possibly one other official. At that time, Tilton's salary was boosted from $129,000 to $225,000.

McLear said the administration hadn't done enough research at that point to propose raises for other agency secretaries and directors.

Lawmakers reached Monday refrained from criticizing the governor's move, which they ceded the ability to block. Niello, the Republican assemblyman, said he wanted more details on the comparisons used to justify the pay hikes before saying whether he thought they were just.

Several legislative Democrats did not return calls for comment.

mike.zapler(at)mercurynews.com

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