It’s good to be the king, but it’s better to be the king’s deputy.
Despite having the District government’s top job for nearly eight years, Mayor Anthony Williams is only the fifth-highest-paid city employee. Williams’ compensation, $152,000 in 2006, is no snub — though it’s more than $40,000 less than Robert Bobb, his second-in-command.
The mayor is on the federal government’s executive schedule. Changing his pay grade would require an act of the D.C. Council, a change to the city’s charter and approval of Congress, though Williams has made no such request.
“If the council felt they wanted to change the scale of what the mayor is paid, he would listen, but that’s not a priority with all the other things he wants to get done in the last eight months of his term,” said Vince Morris, Williams’ spokesman.
Bobb, whose salary is recommended by the mayor, receives $195,000, according to the Office of Personnel. Health Director Dr. Gregg Pane earns $180,000, plus a $19,892 medical allowance.
Police Chief Charles Ramsey gets $175,000 and Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey earns $250,000.
Most District employees participate in a defined-contribution pension program, in which the city contributes 5 percent of a person’s salary, with no employee match, and the ultimate earnings depend on how well the income is invested. The program is in place for all employees, even the most senior aides and department heads, hired after Oct. 1, 1987.
The District does not offer a defined-benefit plan, which guarantees employees a post-retirement monthly salary for the rest of their lives.
There’s long been a debate as to which program is a better deal.
Paul Zorn, director of governmental research with Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Co., a benefits consultant, said defined-contribution plans are risky because the earnings aren’t guaranteed. A person who retires at 65, takes his or her lump-sum contribution and then lives 30 more years might have serious trouble making the pension last, he said.
“I do think that the two of them can supplement each other in a reasonable manner,” Zorn said. “I’m not against defined-contribution plans, but I do think they’re inappropriate as a sole source of retirement benefit for employees.”
Most agency directors have a car available for transport “to outlying meetings, between agency sites, et cetera, to save time on travel,” said a spokeswoman in the personnel office. But it’s difficult to nail down how the cars are used, as a recent inspector general’s report found most agencies had not kept accurate logs — among 11 departments surveyed, there were 26,560 unexplained miles.
D.C. Council members drive their own cars, but they can park anywhere without fear of a ticket.
Williams arrives and departs virtually everywhere, his multimember security team in tow, in a black sport utility vehicle. But the mayor lost out on the ultimate perk when plans for a $50 million mayoral mansion were scuttled in 2003.
He continues to rent a Foggy Bottom apartment.
