Here’s why Mayor Jerry Dyer makes $420K – and what he’s paying his top staff in mayor’s office
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer is on track to earn nearly $420,000 this year by simultaneously collecting his retirement benefits from his nearly 40 years working for the Fresno Police Department in addition to his mayor’s salary.
Dyer receives over $24,000 a month in retirement benefits. He retired as police chief in 2019 after 18 years as chief and working for Fresno Police Department in various positions since 1980.
His retirement pay is based on his years of service and his final average salary, which was $229,937, according to Transparent California. He earns more in retirement now than he did while working as police chief.
His salary as mayor is $130,000 annually. Fresno is one of 10 California cities that pay their mayors six figures, according to 2019 State Controller records, the latest available.
Through information obtained through multiple public records requests, The Bee also analyzed the salaries and positions of Dyer’s team and compared the pay to former Mayor Lee Brand’s administration.
While Dyer’s team collectively makes about $200,000 more than Brand’s, Dyer’s team includes more people, and many earn less than their predecessors. Dyer’s team also includes slightly more women and people of color than the previous administration.
Dyer’s pay: retirement plus salary; philanthropy plans
While Dyer’s pay amounts to an eye-popping number, the executive director of government pay watchdog Transparent California said Fresno’s retirement benefits are reasonable compared to other systems, and Dyer likely is collecting less money in retirement benefits here than he would elsewhere, such as the county of Fresno or the city of Los Angeles.
“If you actually really look into it, it’s not that bad,” said Robert Fellner, Transparent California’s executive director. “The city of Fresno is not the problem. Fresno’s the best actor in the state for pensions. They created a pension system that is very comfortable but not really excessive like CalPERS or the city of Los Angeles.”
About half of Dyer’s retirement pay is from the city of Fresno’s Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), which allows an employee to continue working and save their retirement benefit in a separate account. When workers leave the work force, they can choose to receive the DROP money as a lump-sum payment, in monthly installments, as a rollover to an IRA or a combination of those three options, said Robert Theller, Fresno’s retirement administrator.
Elected officials are excluded from participating in the city’s retirement plans, so Dyer will not receive additional retirement benefits from his time serving as mayor.
In an interview with The Bee, Dyer said the addition of the mayor’s salary gives him more flexibility to be philanthropic.
“I am not living off that money at all,” he said. “It is money that I plan on doing a lot with — a lot of good in our community. And I’m already starting to.
“I can tell you this: I give everything I’ve got to this job, seven days a week, day and night,” he said. “This is my full-time, 100% dedicated job — sun-up to way after the sun goes down, and weekends. I love Fresno. It’s not about the pay.”
Dyer said he plans to start two foundations. One will be to further his mayoral initiatives, called the One Fresno Foundation. The second foundation will focus on youth initiatives. He plans to personally give money to both, he said, and he hopes to raise $2 million this year.
Deputy mayor position returns
After a 20-year hiatus, the deputy mayor position is back. When Autry became mayor in 2001, he brought on Roger Montero from the private sector to be deputy mayor.
Matthew Grundy, former CEO for Habitat for Humanity Greater Fresno Area, fills that role in the Dyer administration and earns $142,000.
While no job description exists for the position, Dyer said Grundy will speak on his behalf.
Dyer said he knew he wanted Grundy on his team after seeing Grundy deliver a charismatic speech to a crowd.
So far, Grundy turned around in 30 days an assessment on the planning and development departments. He’s also coordinating the district events for residents to meet Dyer and working on Dyer’s youth initiatives.
“My only concern was that after awhile, they’ll quit asking for me to show and have Matthew show up,” Dyer joked.
Dyer’s administration
Dyer made a few other adjustments from the previous administration.
First, he added an assistant city manager position and chose to forego the deputy city manager position. He also added the deputy mayor position, which hasn’t been around since Alan Autry was mayor 20 years ago, and deputy chief of staff.
Dyer named Tommy Esqueda as city manager. He originally offered Esqueda $238,000, but Esqueda chose to earn less at $225,000. Former city manager Wilma Quan made about $243,000.
“I think that tells you where our heart is as a team,” Dyer said. “They’re not doing it for the money. They’re doing it because they want to make Fresno a better place to live.”
The assistant city managers are:
▪ Gregory Barfield, former director of transportation. He is making about $12,000 more in his new role, at $182,000.
▪ Francine Kanne, former chief assistant city attorney. Kanne took a $10,000 pay cut to join the city manager team, Dyer said. She earns $200,000.
▪ Georgeanne White, chief of staff to both former mayors Autry and Ashley Swearengin. White also worked shortly in the city’s Department of Public Utilities and prior to her new job she consulted for the Kashian Family Foundation. She earns about $182,000.
Esqueda said that both Barfield and White are making entry-level salaries.
“I have a very talented team, and we all accepted less money than the market might otherwise suggest we could earn so that we could work together to deliver the mayor’s vision for the city,” Esqueda said. “It was a conscious decision by all of us. We didn’t want to create a distraction about how much money we were making. We wanted all the focus to be on delivering the mayor’s vision to transform this city. City before self.”
Dyer also made changes on the communications team. Mark Standriff and Jaime Sandoval are now working with the Beautify Fresno program under the Department of Public Utilities. Former ABC30 reporter Sontaya Rose and KSEE24/CBS47 reporter Fabiola Ramirez now work in the communications department.
H Spees, who was director of strategic initiatives under the Brand administration, now is the director of housing and homeless services.
Tim Orman is a holdover as the mayor’s chief of staff, and Chris Montelongo serves as deputy chief of staff after working with the city’s code enforcement and community revitalization division.
Dyer said he built his team with people who could make his vision and mayoral priorities a reality. That includes an inclusive and diverse team, he said.
“There’s a lot of talented and confident people out there that reflect this community,” he said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.