Politics & Government

The Highest Paid Employees In Contra Costa County Government

City officials in San Ramon did not participate in the annual survey by the Bay Area Newspaper Group

The 10 most highly compensated employees in Contra Costa County government  received between $427,000 and $480,000 each in salaries and benefits in 2012, according to a survey done by the Bay Area News Group.

At the top of the list is Medical Staff Physician Huy Dao, who earned a base salary of $168,129 plus medical benefits, pension payments and other extras for a total compensation of $480,017.

All of the top 10 employees worked in the medical field.

The city of San Ramon did not provide information to BANG for the survey. In 2010, the city was criticized for some of its employee salaries.

The BANG survey looked at the compensation of 279,017 public employees at 330 local agencies across the Bay Area. The employees earned a total of $17.6 billion in salary and benefits.

In a story in Sunday editions, the newspapers also detailed what is known as "pension pickups." These are situations where taxpayers pay the employees' share of their pension contribution.

These pickups have been negotiated in contracts. There are 63,000 public employees in the Bay Area who have receive this benefit. In all, the "pickups" totaled $221 million in 2012.

The newspaper listed 51 Bay Area agencies that pick up the pension contribution for all their employees.

Contra Costa County is not on the list.

The Contra Costa Transportation Authority is listed. It paid the employee contribution for 20 employees at a cost of $156,604.

The Central Contra Costa Sanitary District also picked up the contribution for 284 employees at a cost of $1.4 million.

BART picked up the pension contribution for 3,373 employees at a cost of $17 million.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District picked up 328 employees' contributions at a cost of $1.1 million.


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