Martha Gellhorn, a ground breaking journalist, who reported on German Concentration Camps, stated once that you could never trust the government. She believed they always lie.
Well, Baldwin Park is a local government. And guess, what? It always lies.
The State Controller's website says that the average employee in Baldwin Park makes $34, 887 in 2012. That's a lie. Want to know the real figure? It's $101,000! That's three times it's real pay.
Can you believe a public servant, like a clerk, or a planning officer makes close to a $101,000 a year? For working four days a week! No wonder why the City won't let me look at the payroll?
The City of Baldwin Park lies about their average wage because they don't want to let you know the City's broke. It covered up the average wages this way. It has 391 employees. But it only has 132 full time employees. Thus, when you average the poor with the rich, you could get a nice low public servant salary. Check out the raw data here: Spreadsheet to full time employees.
But when you look at just the full time employees, and you average their pay, it comes out to $101,000! Even then, Baldwin Park had to work hard to cover up what it was paying itself.
What's even more alarming is that 108 out of 132 employees are making 90% of their maximum salary range. For instance, if the job allows you to make $80,000-$100,000, 80% of all the employees have already maxed out. In fact, 60 out of 132 employees, nearly 50% is makes 100% or more of its pay range. But even with that, you don't get $101,000.
No, because they've maxed out, the administrators have found other ways to take from the City coffers. 70%, meaning 90 employees, make overtime. Then they found perk pays, lump sum pays, and other benefits. But even when you add all that in, you still only get $83,000 a year.
On average, you have to add the average health benefits, which is another $15,000 a per year. That brings you to $98,000 a year per employee.
Then if you add in their pension of 2.5% a year, you get $101,000.
In total, the full time employees are costing the citizens of Baldwin Park over $10,000,000 a year. That's just the full time ones. As stated, the average employee of Baldwin Park makes $101,000 a year.
The average resident of Baldwin Park makes $14,000 a year. Thus, the average employee makes seven times more than the average resident.
Let me put that in perspective for my readers. What these employees make in six weeks is what an average person in Baldwin Park makes in the entire 52 weeks, and they usually work everyday - not four days a week.
How is it with property tax and sales tax alone is the City supposed to be keeping up with the skyrocketing labor costs?
And why is it that Julian, the head boxing coach, amidst all of this, got a 40 cent raise after 14 years?
Something smells rotten in Baldwin Park.
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