Orange County lifeguard earnings questioned

A recent Newport Beach, California, report on lifeguard pay in 2010 found that all but one of the 14 full-time lifeguards on the city's payroll made more than $100,000. Even more alarming was the fact that the top two racked up more than $200,000 in earnings, according to the Orange County Register.

Additionally, lifeguards are able to retire with 90 percent of their salary as early as the age of 50. According to the education advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity-California, a lifeguard who retires at 50 and lives to 80 will make over $3 million in retirement.

"We have negotiated very fair and very reasonable salaries in conjunction with comparable positions and other cities up and down the coast," Lifeguard Management Association president Brent Jacobsen told the news source. "Lifeguard salaries here are well within the norm of other city employees."

The Register suggests that the Newport Beach situation is symptomatic of a larger, statewide policy problem.

The fact that the majority of the city's lifeguards were making upwards of $100,000 when the median household income for Orange County residents is just over $87,000 suggests that local public worker pay has fallen out of line with private sector equivalents.