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MONDAY, JUNE 30-JULY 06, 2025
Report reveals highest paid on county government payrolls
Feds say state violated law by allowing trans athletes in girls sports By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
T
he 10 highest paid officials in Riverside County government last year were working in public safety and public health, according to a report released Wednesday by the California Controller’s Office. The agency published its 2024 “Government Compensation in California” analysis, showing how taxpayer funds were spent in the previous year, and who was receiving what for being on the public payroll. The data is available at www.publicpay.ca.gov. “This report is a vital tool in promoting fiscal transparency and accountability in local government,” Controller Malia Cohen said. “Californians deserve to know how public funds are being spent and who is being paid with their tax dollars.” The individual who received the largest income in county government was an unnamed staff psychiatrist for the Riverside University Health System’s Department of Behavioral Health. The individual received a total of $540,881, a large part of which may have been related to overtime claims. In the 2023 report, Sheriff Chad Bianco was identified as the county employee with the largest composite compensation at $593,518. In 2024, the sheriff, who is running for governor on the
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Republican ticket, did not even land in the top 100, taking a backseat to unionrepresented master investigators and lieutenants, who grossed salaries well in excess of $400,000. Amounts documented by the controller’s office include base pay, overtime and lump sum disbursals, which are often tied to banked vacation and sick leave time that wasn’t used, sometimes for years, but then cashed out. The second-highest paid in 2024 was an unnamed District Attorney’s Office bureau commander, whose composite salary last year was $539,539. The DA’s
office could not immediately confirm the reasons for the significant earnings, though they were possibly bundled into a retirement payout. Figures showed the next in line was another RUHS psychiatrist, who received $536,644, followed by Director of Behavioral Health Dr. Matthew Chang, whose total intake last year was $522,783. Chang has consistently ranked in the top 10 in the 2020s. Nos. 5-8 on the list were additional psychiatrists, whose annual earnings ranged from $476,513 to See Payrolls Page 28
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$520,277. Riverside University Health System-Medical Center CEO Jennifer Cruikshank, whose total comp last year was $470,253, ranked No. 9, according to the report. Rounding out the top 10 was an unnamed psychiatrist assigned to Detention Health Services, geared to inmates, for which the doctor was paid $468,619 in 2024. County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen was at No. 30, with total compensation of $399,214, according to the
n investigation by the U.S. Department of Education has found that California violated Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete against biological females, officials said Wednesday. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 requires schools to guarantee equal opportunities for girls in sports and other school activities. “Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “The Trump administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law. The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow,” McMahon said.
Izzy Gardon, director of communications for Newsom, said in a statement, “It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump administration threatening to defund California. Now Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won’t stick.” The governor’s office also noted that California is one of 22 states that have laws requiring transgender students to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity. California Assembly Bill 1266 was enacted in 2013 during Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration. State officials added that only about 10 transgender athletes compete among 510,000 NCAA studentathletes, and in California’s 5.8 million-student K-12 public schools, the number of active transgender student-athletes is estimated to be in the single digits. Scott Roark, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said in a statement, “The California Department of Education believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school, and we have consistently applied existing law in support of students’ rights to do so.”
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