Oregon Live: Portland’s former chief administrator, Jack Graham, pulled in more money than any other city employee during fiscal 2014 – and by a staggering margin. Graham, fired in November 2013 by Mayor Charlie Hales after a series of high-profile controversies, had gross earnings of $371,353.
Graham collected a year’s salary, $192,192, in severance, plus about $60,000 from cashing out vacation time. Just under $120,000 came from his base salary.
Graham tops a list of nearly 8,800 city employees who, together, earned more than $439 million between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, according to a city database obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive through the state’s public records law.
In all, Graham’s total earnings were $112,000 more than the city’s second-highest-paid employee and far more than any top official, including Hales.
Here’s a look at other findings:
1) Six figures: 943 city employees, or 10.7 percent, earned more than $100,000 from base pay, overtime, premium pay, and vacation, sick or severance payouts.
Seem high? It’s not.
Census data show that overall, 12.8 percent of Portland’s nearly 352,000 workers had inflation-adjusted earnings in the six digits, according to 2013 estimates.
2) Part-time/seasonal: The city’s numbers are heavily skewed by Portland Parks & Recreation, which lists more than 3,200 employees. Of those, nearly 2,000 are part time or seasonal recreation leaders. The highest-paid among those employees earned just under $25,000, the lowest $13.88, with average earnings of about $3,000 for the year.
Hales’ pledge to ensure that all city employees earn at least $15 an hour, incidentally, does not apply to part time or seasonal workers.
3) Politics doesn’t pay (comparatively, at least): Hales is the city’s top politician and administrator, earning a base pay of about $129,500. Yet 86 city employees earned more than Hales, a list including bureau directors, attorneys and senior-level administrators.
By including overtime, premiums and payouts, the list of employees who earned more than Hales doubles to 176. Of those, more than 60 percent work for Portland Fire & Rescue (69 employees) or the Police Bureau (36).
One year ago, when the City Council approved annual cost-of-living adjustments, Hales said he found it “nuts” that he and the city commissioners earn far less than the managers they manage. “It’s a crazy situation,” he said.
Hales at the time said he would look to form a review panel to consider pay increases for future elected officials.
4) Overtime: Portland spent $18.8 million on overtime, with nearly half of that ($8.6 million) going to employees in Portland Fire & Rescue, and an additional $5 million to the Police Bureau.
The city’s emergency responders work long, often odd hours. A typical firefighters’ schedule involves 24 hours on duty followed by 48 hours off. Union-represented firefighters work about 52 hours a week, making them eligible for about 12 hours of overtime every week.
Of about 400 city firefighters, 178 earned at least $10,000 in overtime. Of those 38 earned at least $20,000, seven of that group at least $30,000 and two of those topped $40,000.
DCG
