44 Hesperia City Employees At $100K Or More Yearly: Union Calls Them Underpaid

HESPERIA–Municipal employees in this largely blue collar town of 90,173 residents are woefully underpaid, those employees’ union representatives have told the Hesperia City Council.
Asserting that employees in the City of Progress and members of their families exhibited the spirit of self sacrifice, Teamster Supervisor Steve Matthews last month said the 75 Hesperia city employees his union represents lost ground during the six year running economic downturn that gripped the nation, state and region beginning in 2007. By 2009, revenue into the city had diminished by 20 percent over what had been its high water mark just prior to the onset of the 2007 recession. A fiscal austerity effort ensued, involving the totality of city operations, and extending to a hiring freeze and no salary increases coupled with the downscaling of benefits provided to city employees. Unlike some other cities, however, Hesperia did not engage in layoffs.
In 2014, the economy began to rebound, but the city, which had seen a substantial portion of its economic reserves eaten into, stayed the course with regard to holding the line on raises, and lived up to a commitment to keep its budget balanced. The Teamsters, intent on proving the union’s worth to the city’s employees, began pressuring city management and the city council to institute wage and benefit increases.
In January 2016, the city council relented and agreed to provide city employees represented by the Teamsters with a so-called one step advancement effective July 1, 2016, which boosted their pay by 5 percent, based on merit on the anniversary date of each employee’s hiring. In addition, for the first full pay period of fiscal year 2016-17, which began on July 1, 2016, all salary ranges reflected a 2.5-percent base salary increase, plus an additional cost of living adjustment increase of one percent.
Matthews, however, told the city council at its December 6, 2016 meeting that was not enough. “In speaking with our members, they have stated clearly that economically they’ve gone backwards over the past 10 years,” Matthews said. “This is unacceptable,” he thundered. He demanded that the city council direct its negotiating team “to bargain in good faith” with the Teamsters. The city has no choice, he said other than “improving the condition of city employees.”
Forty-four Hesperia employees make more than $100,000 in total annual compensation.
City manager Nils Bentsen is getting $ 192,684.00 in salary, with $47,520 in benefits for $240,204 in total compensation per year.
Assistant city manager Brian D. Johnson makes $237,296 in total compensation annually.
Director of development services Scott Priester is receiving $173,267.00 annually.
Deputy finance director Anne M. Duke makes $173,777.00 per year.
Economic development director Steven Lantsberger receives $158,068 in total compensation each year.
Principal planner Dave Reno makes $156,304.00 per year.
Project construction manager David Burkett makes $152,521 per year.
City clerk Melinda L. Sayre receives $151,744 in total annual compensation.
Building inspection supervisor Michael D. Hearn makes $141,961 per year.
Building and safety manager Tracy Wrigley makes $141,961 per year.
Geographical information systems manager Eric Greene receives $139, 627.
Senior planner Daniel Alcayaga receives $136,455 per year.
Senior accountant Virginia Villasenor is paid $136,455 in salary and benefits per year.
Senior planner Stanley D. Liudahl receives $135,234.00 per year.
Senior financial analyst George R. Pirsko makes $130,457 per year.
Senior financial analyst Casey Williams Brooksher gets $130,457.00 per year.
Public works manager Mark Faherty makes $129,891per year.
Senior management analyst Juli Lynne Rull receives $128,309.00 per year.
Assistant to the city manager Rachel C Molina makes $124,444 per year.
Human resources manager Rita Perez gets $124,444 per year.
Assistant engineer Mark W. McKinley receives $117,212 per year.
Plans examiner Larry Bachmann gets $115,664.00 per year.
Plans examiner Keith Otjen takes in $115,193.00 per year.
Keith Cheong, a financial analyst, receives $114,391.55 per year.
Information systems specialist Rolando Quinonez makes $114,169 per year.
Julia A. Ryan, a management analyst, makes $114,169 per year.
Information services specialist officer Steven Vannorman is provided with salary and benefits of $114,169 per year.
Administrative analyst Andrea Lynn Wagner gets $114,169 per year.
Management analyst Lisa K. Lamere receives $114,169 per year.
Theresa Gayle Mauger, a senior code enforcement officer, makes $113,188.28 per year.
Code enforcement supervisor Antonio Genovesi makes $112,007 per year.
Public works supervisor Mark Ronald Faherty receives $111,224 per year.
Management analyst Holly E. Effiom makes $111,026 per year.
Roderic R. Yahnke, another management analyst, gets $111,026 per year.
Tina M. Souza, another management analyst, receives $111,026 per year.
Maintenance crew supervisor Jeffrey W Ozanne gets $110,634 per year.
Construction inspection supervisor Dwaine Ellis Latimer gets $107,440 per year.
Customer service supervisor Jill Wyman brings in $106,249 per year.
Facilities supervisor Scott B. Saude receives $105,420 per year.
Scott Smith, a maintenance crew supervisor, brings in $102,375 per year.
Joni L. Latimer, a maintenance crew supervisor, receives $105,475 per year.
Financial analyst Jose Mendoza makes $102,375 per year.
Senior code enforcement officer Ernesto Montes makes $100,539 per year.
Hesperia also employs 179 others who receive less than $100,000 in total compensation per year. The average salary of Hesperia city employees is $64,084.
Among Hesperia residents, the average household income is $59,690 per year. More than half of those households include two breadwinners. The average income among Hesperia residents is $37,306 per year. The benefits generally available to non-governmental employees are less substantial than those employed in the private sector. Thus, the average Hesperia resident makes, in salary and benefits, roughly 58.2 percent of the salary and benefits provided to the average Hesperia city employee.

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