Politics & Government

Does the County Administrator Deserve a Raise?

The County Supes will vote on a 4 percent pay bump for David Twa Tuesday.

The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a new contract and a raise for county administrator David Twa.

Twa, who makes $250,000 a year now, will get a roughly 4 percent boost to $260,000, if the supes approve the contract. It’s a good wage, but Twa is not the highest paid employee on the county payroll. The State Controller’s government compensation database lists 21 workers in Contra Costa County making more than $250,000 in 2011, including several doctors and a deputy district attorney who earned $385,000 in total wages that year.

CoCo County may be getting a good deal. In neighboring Alameda County, the administrator earned $423,000 in 2011, according to the State Controller, despite overseeing only 9,300 employees compared to Contra Costa County’s 11,300 workers.

Here’s the full text of the fiscal impact of the contract:

Salary base of $260,000, an increase of approximately 4% from last contract. Increase of 3 1/3 hours of monthly vacation accruals for a maximum of 23 1-3 hours per month.  In lieu of the deferred compensation benefit provided for in the Management Resolution, deferred compensation contribution in the amount of $23,000 will be added to the County Administrator's County deferred compensation account annually.

The contract negotiated in 2008 allowed for base pay of $250,000 and an adjustment for Pay for Performance up to 5% increase or decrease of up to five percent in a fiscal year.  Due to severe fiscal constraints since that time, the County Administrator's salary has not been increased even though he met or exceeded all of his performance goals and merited such an increase.  

In fact as with the majority of County employees, the County Administrator's salary was reduced.


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