Forget Tweetooglebook. The real money can be found working for the city of San Francisco—specifically, the San Francisco Fire Department. Why? Overtime. According to Matier & Ross, "more than 700 San Francisco city workers took home wages in excess of $200,000 last year."
In fact, you can make more than your very own boss. Awkward!
The city's best-paid worker in 2013 was Fire Department Battalion Chief Samson Lai, who made a total of $347,102 - thanks to $131,000 in overtime and $29,000 in premium pay and other incentives.Lai, who works at Station 2 at Powell and Broadway, earned more than his own boss, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White ($336,922). He also came out ahead of the city's top-paid department leader, Police Chief Greg Suhr ($339,282).
Holy smokes.
In his defense, however, Lai, "who oversees a crew of 50 firefighters," says he's earned his overtime, thank you very much. "I'm probably in the busiest battalion west of the Mississippi," he tells M&R.
In all, the SFFD saw overtime jump to $43.8 million last fiscal year, "up from $9.9 million a decade earlier."
More a quarter of all city employees pull in over $100,000. Which is downright nifty and makes them (barely) eligible for a studio in the Tenderloin.
In other news, Mayor Ed Lee ranked 37th on the city's earnings list, earning a comparatively humble $285,466.
[M&R]
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