Health & Welfare | Daily Report

Compensation for executive directors of an early childhood development program in California counties ranged from $47,803 to more than $240,000 in fiscal year 2009-10, according to a California Watch analysis.

Median compensation for the executive directors of First 5 county commissions was $91,953. Twenty-two executive directors earned more than $100,000 in 2009-10, the most recent year for which audited financials are available.

Named for its focus on the first five years of a child's life, First 5 was established in 1998 when voters approved Proposition 10. The initiative, which places a 50-cent tax on tobacco products, has generated about $7.3 billion to date.

The commissions, now a well-established program in every county in the state, fund and support programs ranging from direct health care services and parenting classes to childhood literacy and school readiness.

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California Watch requested compensation and total cost of employment data for all employees from each of the 58 county commissions. Set up as county agencies, independent and separate public entities or hybrid operations, the commissions do not appear under many counties in the state controller's public employee compensation database.

Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers say First 5 is sitting on $1 billion needed for state health services for children. Commissions argue that most of the dollars are committed and that the funding shift violates the initiative's intent. Lawsuits filed by several commissions are pending as a consolidated case in Fresno County Superior Court.

Unique public agencies

Because each commission operates with a great deal of autonomy, the compensation of their executive directors is difficult to compare. In some counties, First 5 employees are subject to the same salary steps and receive the same benefits as other county workers. At a few commissions, workers are contractors and receive no benefits.

California Watch asked ERI Economic Research Institute, a compensation analytics firm, to analyze First 5 executive director compensation. To do so, the firm drew on its database of about 2,500 human services nonprofits in California with reported compensation information.

The firm compared First 5 to human services nonprofits because the commissions do similar work. At the executive level, compensation is related to an organization's revenue, said Linda Lampkin, research director of the institute.

"Typically what your salary is, is basically determined by what you do and where you do it," she said. Compensation is "more related to the type of work you're doing rather than the type of employer."

The analysis yielded no clear pattern: At 18 commissions, executive directors earned at least 5 percent more than did executive directors of human services nonprofits with comparable revenue. Executive director compensation at eight commissions was within 5 percent of expectations based on revenue. At 32 commissions, executive director compensation was less than 95 percent of what their nonprofit counterparts were paid.

Compared with other county government positions in their counties, First 5 executive directors' compensation was all over the map.

In San Mateo County, for example, the First 5 executive director's compensation was similar to that of the director of public health programs for the county's disease control and prevention division, according to the state controller's government compensation database. Compared with the average pay of their county supervisors, the executive director of First 5 earned just slightly more in Los Angeles County, about 55 percent more in Stanislaus County, and about 10 percent less in San Bernardino County.

By the numbers

Eighty percent of Proposition 10 revenue is divided among the county commissions, based on each county's birth rate; the remaining 20 percent goes to a state-level commission. Many commissions have other sources of funding as well – including grants, investments and fundraising – but the tobacco tax is by far the largest. 

In 2009-10, county commissions had nearly $517.7 million in revenue, according to a California Watch review of the commissions' financial reports. Individually, revenues ranged from just under $410,000 (First 5 Sierra County) to nearly $146 million (First 5 LA).

Commission staffs ranged from just one employee to 103 employees. In total, First 5 county commissions directly employed 715 people. Boards of commissioners, who are appointed by county supervisors and receive no pay or only small per diems, are not included in this figure.

Altogether, about 7.9 percent of First 5 revenue went toward staff compensation. The total cost of employment – compensation, benefits, taxes, insurance, and other employer costs – accounted for about 11 percent of revenue.

The highest paid executive directors were Evelyn Martinez of First 5 LA and Michael Ruane of the Children & Families Commission of Orange County. 

Martinez earned a $232,178 salary in 2009-10. She received a $6,000 car allowance, a $10,000 performance bonus and $20,785 in benefits: health, dental, vision and life insurance, employee counseling and deferred compensation.

Ruane's salary that year was $236,247.12. He received a $10,980 travel allowance, $8,351.86 in fringe benefits, including health and dental insurance, and $69,880.80 toward retirement.

Martinez and Ruane oversaw two of the largest commissions by revenue. But the highest-paid executives did not always work for the largest commissions.

Of the 10 highest-compensated executive directors, four worked for commissions that were not among the 10 largest by revenue. Listed below are the compensation of executive directors and commission revenue in 2009-10 for all 58 First 5 county commissions. Compensation includes any salary or wages, allowances (such as for travel or a cellphone) and bonuses received.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the lowest First 5 executive director compensation. The correct figure is $47,803.