Under RFP 3.4 the District approves the comparator list before the salary survey begins. This page shows how HSG would start that conversation: candidate agencies scored on the RFP's own factors, and benchmark ranges read from each agency's published salary schedule, with the document and date for every figure.
Candidate comparators
Section 3.4(1) names the factors: agency type, services, geographic labor market, size, operating complexity and workforce competition. The list below is ours, stated so the District can react to it. It is not a final list.
Koff & Associates used ten agencies in its 2012 study and a ranked list of twelve in 2017-18 (led by Soquel Creek, San Lorenzo Valley and North Marin, and reaching as far as Southern California because few similar agencies are close by). The District's March 2026 management salary review used nine, most of them larger Bay Area agencies (Board Resolution 2026-08). The lists overlap on only a few names. Choosing which labor market the District competes in is the first decision of the study, and the one we would put to management in December.
| Agency | Type | Why it is a candidate | On a prior District list | Published schedule |
|---|
Benchmark preview
Pick a benchmark. The District's bar is its published step 1 to step 6. Each peer bar is that agency's published minimum to maximum for the closest-matching class, annualized as noted. Matches are on duties and level and are marked close or approximate.
| Agency | Peer class | Match | Minimum | Maximum | Effective | Source |
|---|
The study survey differs from this page in four ways: the District approves the comparators first; every match is confirmed against the peer's class specification; figures are aged to a common date stated in the report; and unmatched or thinly matched classes are handled with a documented alternative method (Section 3.4(5)). No figure here is a finding.