FPUD general manager's salary is out of line

Your paper’s revealing article about public school superintendent salaries prompted me to do a little research of my own having to do with the salaries at FPUD. According to the “Transparent California” web site, in 2015 the FPUD general manager was paid $242,106 with benefits of $71,650.28 to manage about 219 people including temporary employees. Considering how fast his pay went up from 2013 to 2015, it must be significantly higher now.

The basic salary of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the highest ranking member of our military) is $243,162.00 as set by law.

Some time ago I wrote to my FPUD board member to decry the apparent discrepancy between what our General Officers (division and air wing commanders) are paid compared to the general manager of FPUD. Those generals are responsible for thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment, and are paid significantly less than the Chairman of the JCS.

The reply I received stated in effect that the military are always paid less than civilians.

However, based on your article we can now see that the FPUD general manager is paid significantly more than say the superintendent of Temecula Valley Unified School District who manages over 2,700 employees and is responsible for about 28,000 students and hundreds of millions dollars of district property. In 2016 that superintendent was paid a salary of $237,580 with $38,193 in benefits according to your article.

I realize that water is vital. However it isn’t like FPUD is pioneering safe water systems. They have existed for hundreds of years. They are simply obtaining water and delivering it to our homes and businesses. And, oh yeah, according to our water bill they have something to do with our sewers. I understand that providing water is an engineering effort, but is it really more of a responsibility than running a school district with three high schools, six middle schools and 17 elementary schools? Should the general manager's salary be on a par with that of the chairman of the JCS?

I encourage everyone to look at the salaries of people at FPUD. Maybe someone can answer this letter and tell me why some of those salaries are so high.

James R. Furleigh