The Oakland city administrator’s recommendation of a 37% raise for Mayor Sheng Thao is excessive, an insult to taxpayers and tone deaf to the city’s fiscal plight.
At a time when Oakland officials should be looking to control costs, City Administrator Jestin Johnson proposes that Thao receive a pay boost that’s completely out of proportion with other mayors across the state.
Thao, who has been mayor just six months, nominated Johnson for his $340,000-a-year post. Then, less than four weeks after he started his job, he signed off on a recommendation that the City Council increase Thao’s salary from $203,000 annually to $277,975.
City Council members are expected to consider the mayor’s salary hike Tuesday. Most disturbing are the misinformation and questionable rationales they have received from Johnson to justify it.
Oakland is the eighth most populous city in California, far behind the top four — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco. But the raise would make Thao the third-highest-paid mayor in California, according to state data, behind only San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Those cities have, respectively, double and nine times Oakland’s population of 431,000 people. And the mayors there have far greater responsibilities and authority than Thao.
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