San Diego will end its fiscal year on Tuesday spending 2.5 percent less on payroll costs than last year.
The city’s payroll was a little more than $694 million this year. That’s down from about $712 million in 2008. Mayor Jerry Sanders says the payroll has dropped despite rising prices and inflation. But he says he still believes that city’s salaries are competitive.
“I always worry about fair compensation where we can maintain and retain employees. Right now is not a difficult time in doing that because of that fact we have unemployment at such a rate that people aren’t moving back and forth,” he says. “We certainly have to be aware of that and be concerned about that as we move into the future when our recovery starts though.”
Sanders says San Diego will see another $40 million in payroll savings next fiscal year when most city employees begin taking a 6 percent reduction in their compensation.
