Auditor-Controller Joe Harn has updated the list of El Dorado County’s highest compensated employees for the calendar year 2024. The list of the top 100 compensated employees based on the cost of total salaries and benefits is available online at edcgov.us/auditor-controller. Click on “Payroll Division” then “Top Paying Positions.” 

“Posting the list to the county’s website is part of the ongoing effort to increase transparency in our county government,” Harn said. “The best government transparency involves placing all financial information online in a readily understandable manner.  Government transparency allows taxpayers to see how our county is spending tax money, and gives El Dorado County residents the ability to hold us accountable. The internet is a great place to enhance transparency.”  

As expected, the top two highest compensated employees were mental health professionals: the county’s mental health director at $367,245 annually and a psychiatrist II at $321,685 annually. 

More than a third of the positions on the list are in the Sheriff’s office.

The cost of each employee’s CalPERS benefit is included on the list, but the reported retirement cost should be reviewed with some skepticism, according to Harn.  CalPERS has intentionally understated the actual cost of its retirement programs statewide, he said.  Undoubtedly, higher costs for the county’s retirement program and retirees’ health stipend will need to be paid in the future, Harn predicted.