Lodi's Interim School Superintendent Gets $39,780-a-Year Pension Spike for Five Months' Work. School board members who oversee the Lodi Unified School District voted February 19 to give a $45,000 pay raise to interim Superintendent Len Casanega, bringing his salary for five months as interim superintendent to the equivalent of $220,000 a year. The pay raise will lead to an estimated $39,780-per-year increase in his retirement pension, the Lodi News-Sentinel reports.
The newspaper notes that the pay raise, approved on a 5-1 vote, could add $1 million to Mr. Casanega's pension if he lives for 25 years after retiring. He stands to make $169,248 a year in retirement, which is significantly higher than the $141,019 he made last year while working as assistant superintendent of personnel for the district.
The raise was suggested by Mr. Casanega himself, reportedly based on what other superintendents make in districts of the same size. The board hired him to serve as interim superintendent prior to negotiating his salary – he started on February 4, and the discussion over his compensation came weeks later.
Cal-Tax Director of Communications David Kline told the News-Sentinel: "This is the type of situation that angers taxpayers, because taxpayers are the ones that ultimately pay the bill."
Harvey Bills, the only board member to vote against the raise, said he was surprised that Mr. Casanega would request such a high salary at a time when the district is considering trimming $8 million from next year's budget. "I think it's a shock to a lot of people," Mr. Bills said.
(Cal-Tax: The interim superintendent of the 29,800-student school district is now receiving a higher salary than the $212,179 authorized for the governor of California.) (Source: Lodi News-Sentinel, February 23.)
Cal-Taxletter February 29, 2008
© 2008 California Taxpayers' Association. All Rights Reserved.