It seems a little unrealistic, without knowing more, to assume that DeMaio’s conclusions are correct.
That number is meaningless without seeing all of the numbers. Does he report all the salaries, increases, percentages, etc?
How many employees that were already making $100k, received a pay raise? How about all of the pay raises for those making $45k, 60K, 90K? Those increases could easily add up to be more than the increases to employees making $100k for the first time. It could be that the City is getting the best bang for the buck out of those $100k + employees. The person making $40k could end up being a complete rip-off for the city. I see the low-end payscale employees working in Balboa park almost every day. They work at a snails pace when they are not on their cell phone or sitting in the city vehicle behind a building or some other obscure location.
What if some of those new members of the “club” only needed, say, a $10,000 pay raise to make it there. On the other hand, what if there even more employees that received raises at a greater rate, percentage wise, – that aren’t in the club?
Doesn’t seem to be enough information in that blurb to single out a magical number of $100k, and demonize it on that basis alone.
