> management agreed to raise workers' salaries,

Once the salary base for the City gets to be about $100M/year--then a yearly average wage increase of 2% will increase the salary base by $2M/year and a 3% average salary increase will result in a $3M total salary increase.

The fact that salary increases were approved meant that the salary portion of the City's compensation costs were going to go up by the amount of the salary increase. This is not magic--just simply 7th grade math.

> the number of employees making more than $200,000 dipped in 2013.

This could be because of reduced overtime, or it could be because some of those making more than $200K/year moved on to another employer, or retired. So--which is it?

Since when do such highly paid employees get any overtime at all?? Only in the public sector.

Do they get bonuses for cost overruns and lawsuits on construction projects, too?

Never again will I vote for a city bond issue. And remember that when you turn 65 you can get a rebate on the school parcel tax. A small drop in the bucket against $80K in overtime pay but still....

How long does it take these geniuses to fix a traffic light? 8+ years and still counting.

Don't forget the pension/healthcare component. A six-figure city pension over 30 years, adjusting for inflation, is worth $3 million. Plus you don't have to wait until 65 to get it.

No wonder the City wants a bond issue.

Anyone ever heard of a Wage Freeze? Perhaps it's time to elect a city council that will put a stop to the ridiculous spending on city employee salaries, overtime and benefits. They'll vote to raise taxes on hotels to a ridiculous amount to help fund their exorbitant and foolish spending, but they don't have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the city employee unions and say "No More." Vote them all out and send a message that we've had enough.

Pleased indeed to see the abolishment of the minimum-staffing provision; and I'm pro-union.
Overtime pay is going to bankrupt us.

With roughly 60,000 residents the city budget for employees is $1,683 per man, woman, child ($6733 for a family of 4). We sure are a hard bunch to manage.

If 12 of the top 15 overtime earners were public safety or other workers, the Online goofballs would be apoplectic over our gluttonous unions. There's a noticeable silence, though, when the top earners are on the administrative staff. I guess the real issue is not how much is being paid but who's getting it.

And to echo Silly's comment, why are top managers being paid overtime?

Time for wage cuts. In businesses, that is companies that make things and sell them, overtime is not paid and accrued sick leave is not paid when the employee retires. And any non wage component of pay is not used to calculate pensions. And retired employees pay for health care costs.
Time to stop this welfare state for municipal employees. They make as much money as in the private sector, but do not work nearly as hard as private company employees. Time to reign in the "good life".

Only in Palo Alto would a a $2.4 Million dollar increase be considered a "successful effort to curb the rising costs of benefits and reduce overtime."

One wonders what failure would look like... heh.

Doesn't the Wage & Hour Act still dictate overtime? Unless you are exempt. Canning peaches down at Libby's I always got paid 48 hours straight time and 12 hours time and a half for those six 10-hour days each week. Plus shift differential on swings. Good Teamster's Union job.

I think a $200K/year employee should not get overtime. What number do other people vote for?

Almost $60k for meter readers?

Let's begin trimming salaries by firing City Manager Keene. He is ineffective and completely out of touch with the citizens he represents. He also hires a lot of incompetent staff, as is witnessed by listening to the staff speak at city council meetings. Their incomplete, error filled reports make me cringe.

[Post removed.]

Many private sector companies routinely classify very low-level workers as managers specifically to avoid paying them overtime even though they're only one or two rungs above minimum wage.

I'm not defending that practice for $30K a year workers but Palo Alto sure does the opposite. Shame on the city where we have police dispatchers making $300,000, with 1/3 of it overtime. I guess she gets a bonus for rudeness, too.

The city really needs to come to grips with this type of absurdity.

Is this really news? Less headcount and a 1.7% increase in overall compensation sounds like costs are being contained. I doubt you can find any business in the county having a 1.7% increase in compensation/benefits - unless you pick a failing business. Did The Weekly do better?

Web Link

The libraries automatically add a day on to every holiday so for example, they are closed 2 days for every one day holiday.

Everyone is distracted from the real money drain. Residents are not looking at where the majority of the salaries are going - top level management. How many top level managers has keene hired in the past 3 years? How many of those new hires are in positions that never existed before? Why does keene need them when past city managers didn't? How are the new hires tied to keene? What is their benefit package? Why do at least 5 top level positions receive city paid deferred comp?

Why do employees have to work overtime? Because managers don't. There are not enough employees to cover the workload. It's difficult to work more efficiently when you are doing the same work that 2 or 3 people used to do. The City has downsized staffing by 30% while increasing workload, programs and services. Oh and btw the 9 days in two weeks still equates to 80 hours. The same as 5 days a week.

It's easy to read the paper and make assumptions based on story selling because we all feel the economy crunch and we want everyone to share our pain. But do some investigating on your own before you drink the koolaide!!

Comparing apples to apples?

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compare with web link from Rico.