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| Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP |
If you ever have occasion to spend some time on the beaches, lakes, or public pools in the Los Angeles region, you can relax knowing you are in the hands of hundreds of the highest-paid lifeguards in America.
Yes, Open the Books (OTB) has done it again. A couple of years ago, the Illinois-based non-profit government transparency watchdog made public the outrageous compensation paid to hundreds of L.A. lifeguards. Those revelations generated one of the most widely read investigative reports ever published.
The OTB folks file thousands of public information requests every year at every level of government from the nation's capital down to your local DMV, then either post the spending data they receive or head to the courthouse with a suit seeking to force disclosure to the taxpayers of how their money is being spent in a particular area.
The goal is to "put every dime online, in real time." Or as the group's recently redesigned website puts it: "We follow every dollar. From government salaries to secret contracts, we expose the spending they don't want you to see."
Now, OTB is back with an updated report, and the results are just as shocking, perhaps even more so in view of the ruinous wildfires earlier this year, the more recent anti-ICE riots, and the continuing decline in the quality of life for residents of one of the nation's biggest and bluest sanctuary cities.
Here's what OTB found: Lifeguards working for the county of Los Angeles "enjoy big overtime payouts and generous benefits. The top-paid lifeguard in L.A. County was compensated more than $500,000 in 2024, and over the past 5 years, a single lifeguard was able to pull down $702,000 – in overtime alone!"
And that's just the beginning: --->READ MORE HERE
They may not be rich enough to hassle the Hoff yet, but they’re getting there.
f it wasn’t clear that the city and county of Los Angeles are in dire need of spending resets, taxpayers can look no further than the county lifeguards paid to watch over its pools, lakes and ocean.
OpenTheBooks.com reported on outrageous overtime spending on the LA police, fire and particularly overpaid employees in the city’s Department Water & Power amid out-of-control wildfires in January, and the anti-immigration riots in June.
Lifeguards, too, enjoy big overtime payouts and generous benefits. The top-paid lifeguard in LA county was compensated more than $500,000 in 2024; and over the past 5 years, a single lifeguard was able to pull down $702,000 – in overtime alone!
BY THE NUMBERS
We reported that in 2021, the top-paid lifeguards earned up to $510,283 — back then, we found 98 lifeguards earned at least $200,000 including benefits.
Now, out of over 1,500 lifeguards, 134 of them earned at least $200,000 including benefits. Thirty-four of them had $300,000 or more in their compensation package.
The highest paid in 2024 was lifeguard services chief Fernando Boiteux, who was given $523,351 in base pay, “other pay” and benefits.
Total compensation was $70.8 million for the 134 lifeguards last year, and includes the following: base pay, overtime pay, “other” pay, leave time payouts, health insurance payments, pension contributions, deferred contributions, long-term disability and life insurances, and “other” benefits.
Forty-five lifeguards collected between $50,000 and $171,000 in overtime alone.
In fact, the highest paid overtime earner at $171,000 was lifeguard services captain Remy Smith, who also received $109,999 worth of benefits, for a total compensation package of $468,556, the second highest compensation package behind Boiteux.
Boiteux didn’t collect overtime, but his generous pay package was top heavy with benefits — $192,000, including $100,000 in pension contributions, which is $25,000 more than anyone else.
Following Smith, the next highest overtime earners are ocean lifeguard Hayk Avagyan ($147,872), lifeguard services captain Colby Trivette ($137,139), lifeguard services captain Julio Rodriguez ($132,490) and ocean lifeguard Scott Deboer ($128,873).
The tidal wave of overtime in 2024 isn’t an aberration. --->READ MORE HERE
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