By Karen Velie
While six of the seven cities in San Luis Obispo County are asking for sales tax increases to make up for revenue lost during the coronavirus, administration costs take a large bite out of their budgets.
Once again, San Luis Obispo employees top the list of highest paid city employees in the county. SLO city attorney Christine Dietrick takes the number one spot with $376,602 in pay and benefits.
CalCoastNews evaluated earnings information from Transparent California, a public pay and pension database, to determine the four top-paid employees in each of the seven cities in SLO County. The totals include salary and benefits.
Compensation information for San Luis Obispo, Atascadero, Paso Robles and Pismo Beach is from 2019. The data for Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay is from 2018, the last time those cities filed with Transparent California.
Four highest paid employees from each of the seven cities in SLO County
City Pay/Benefits Title Name
| San Luis Obispo | $376,602 | City Attorney | Christine Dietrick |
| San Luis Obispo | $368,573 | Fire Captain | Mark Vasquez |
| San Luis Obispo | $358,869 | Police Chief | Deanna Cantrell |
| San Luis Obispo | $343,626 | City Manager | Derik Johnson |
| Pismo Beach | $301,913 | City Manager | James Lewis |
| Atascadero | $300,255 | City Manager | Rachelle Richard |
| Arroyo Grande | $295,270 | CD Director | Deborah Malicoat |
| Paso Robles | $287,645 | ES Manager | Jonathan Stornetta |
| Paso Robles | $284,339 | City Manager | Thomas Frutchey |
| Arroyo Grande | $281,123 | City Manager | Jaes Bergman |
| Arroyo Grande | $272,495 | Police Chief | Beau Pryor |
| Pismo Beach | $266,917 | Police Chief | Cristopher Miller |
| Paso Robles | $263,200 | Police Chief | Ty Lewis |
| Paso Robles | $256,980 | Executive Manager | Julie Dahlen |
| Atascadero | $256,688 | Police Chief | Jerel Haley |
| Grover Beach | $254,413 | City Manager | Matthew Bronson |
| Morro Bay | $250,588 | Fire Chief | Steven Knucles |
| Atascadero | $249,529 | Fire Chief | Casey Bryson |
| Morro Bay | $246,272 | City Manager | Scott Collins |
| Arroyo Grande | $244,593 | Police Commander | Michael Martinez |
| Morro Bay | $236,640 | PW Director | Robert Livick |
| Grover Beach | $236,557 | Police Chief | John Peters |
| Pismo Beach | $223,452 | PW Director | Benjamin Tide |
| Grover Beach | $225,130 | Admin Services | Gaya Chapman |
| Pismo Beach | $219,568 | Admin Services | Nadia Feeser |
| Atascadero | $218,075 | Fire Captain | Dean Pericic |
| Morro Bay | $216,260 | Police Chief | Gregory Allen |
| Grover Beach | $205,756 | CD Director | Bruce Buckingham |
Amazing what these people are paid. I wonder what the boots on the ground get paid.?