Fact Check: What do County Supervisors Make in Nearby and Comparable Counties?

The Claim:

“The proposed ordinance would increase monthly wages for members of the Board of Supervisors to $7,353 monthly, to align with the median wage of comparable and contiguous counties.”

When/Where:

This statement was part of a staff report from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors’ October 31 meeting agenda.

Context:

On October 31 the Shasta County Board of Supervisors discussed a resolution that would increase their monthly wages from $4,579 to $7,353, a 62% increase. The reasoning provided for the proposed increase was that the new higher amount aligns with the median (or middle) wage of comparable and contiguous counties.

While staff did not list which counties were used for comparison in the staff report, during the meeting Director of Support Services Monica Fugitt responded to a question by saying that the counties used included Siskiyou, Tehama, Madera, Butte, El Dorado, Kings, Humboldt, Yolo, and Napa.

For unknown reasons, Fugitt’s list does not include all counties contiguous to, or touching Shasta County. It’s also not clear how she or other staff chose which counties deemed “comparable.” As of November 3, Fugitt has not responded to two emails asking how the list of contiguous and comparable counties was chosen.

Our Analysis:

We consider the county’s statement to be somewhat true.

Given the counties chosen as “contiguous and comparable” by staff, the calculation used for this claim is accurate.

However, the truth of this statement relies entirely on which counties were used for the comparison. It’s not clear how comparable counties were chosen and certainly not all contiguous counties were included.

A complete list of all counties contiguous to, or touching, Shasta County would have also included Modoc, Trinity, Plumas, Lassen, Siskiyou, and Tehama. Including those counties would have significantly lowered the median from the county’s claim of $7,353 to $6,154.

This matters not only for this particular calculation but for all calculations made using comparable counties. Without a standardized list of comparable counties, the median can be quite easily skewed with the inclusion or exclusion of one additional county.

Here are the comparable and contiguous counties chosen by staff, along with their median:

Siskiyou	$    38,892.00
Tehama	$    64,271.00
Madera	$    73,624.00
Butte	$    77,378.00
El Dorado	$    88,627.00  (median salary = $7,385.58/mo)
Kings	$    97,246.00
Humboldt	$  100,156.00
Yolo	$  115,769.00
Napa	$  115,904.00

Here are the salaries of all contiguous counties as well as the comparable counties chosen by staff, along with their median:

Modoc	$    23,905.00
Siskiyou	$    38,892.00
Trinity	$    39,259.00
Lassen	$    41,055.00
Tehama	$    64,271.00
Madera	$    73,624.00
Plumas	$    73,848.00 (median salary= $6,154/mo)
Butte	$    77,378.00
El dorado	$    88,627.00
Kings	$    97,246.00
Humboldt	$  100,156.00
Yolo	$  115,769.00
Napa	$  115,904.00

Here’s what else you should know:

The Board of Supervisors ultimately took no action on the item, after heated discussion. They did say the issue would return to the board’s agenda at some point down the road.

If you’ve heard a statement in public meetings that you’d like to see fact-checked, let us know. Email: editor@shastascout.org