By Robert Haugh
Last month, Santa Clara News Online reported that Santa Clara now has the largest and most expensive City Manager’s Office in city history.
That was a preliminary report because the City only shared salary information and did not include total benefits. That can be substantial. So SCNO has requested that information.
But City Staff won’t release clear numbers on how much top executives cost taxpayers.
Instead, SCNO received numerous documents. None showed total compensation in one place. The information is buried in different records.
City Staff’s lack of transparency mirrors what happened at the last City Council meeting.
At the August 26, 2025, meeting, Assistant City Manager Aracely Azevedo was asked for the City Attorney’s total compensation. She wouldn’t say. She just said it’s contained in a report.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor had to ask for information to be publicly disclosed.
Only then did City Manager Jovan Grogan give the answer that City Attorney Glen Googins’ total compensation is $564K annually. Googins’ base salary is $370K.
Here’s a clip of the discussion (5:40 mark). It’s less than 5 minutes.
Ethics expert Dr. Tom Shanks watched the meeting and said that Azevedo’s reluctance to publicly disclose total compensation information is troubling.
“Ms. Azevedo’s response struck me as disrespectful at best and incompetent at worst. Why not just answer the question?” Shanks wrote in an email to SCNO.
Shanks is also concerned in general about the City Staff’s willingness to disclose compensation information for other highly paid executives.
“I see no indications that city management has made transparency or ethics a priority across the board. If they had, they would make it easy to get total compensation information,” said Shanks.
“Public trust requires transparency.”
Multiple on-line sources indicate that the median income for an INDIVIDUAL in the City of Santa Clara in 2023 was **$84,543**, which can serve as a proxy for individual income, as it represents the average income per person in the city.
Same on-line sources indicate “the median income for Santa Clara city government employees in 2024 was **$150,035**.”
When did being a “public servant” for Santa Clara become a “Master” of us enslaved Santa Clara residents???
Guys… Santa Clara is our City.
We need to all understand that our votes are what will get our City back…. and then keep it back.
Did we make a mistake, of course. The first and really big one was we trusted Jed York. We actually believed what he said. If only lying could win you some Super Bowls… dang we would have some Championship Flags flown every year for sure.
I honestly believe it’s almost a competition between the different Ownership Groups to see what Host Cities they can mess with the most.
I’m not even sure the 49ers would even qualify for a Playoff Run given just how poorly the NFL has been managed over the last 25-30 years.
A friend of mine gets to work with all the different major sports and leagues. Part of his job is dealing with sponsorships and advertisements. That said, he will not even return a phone call from the NFL.
I just turned 65, family has been here since 1963. Santa Clara is worth fighting for. I know changing the world is out of my reach, but getting my Home Town back is worth fighting for.
Burt Field
Yes I went to Sutter and Curtis as well.
There is NO reason anyone who works for the city should make almost as much as the President of the United States. That’s disgusting. I’d like my money back
Part 2? The fact that this story has legs is mind boggling. City management is totally blowing the handling of this information. How many other parts will we see?
I distinctly remember the 49er financed campaign ads for “their” council members promised greater transparency. The Santa Clara staff has become a cult of the art of cover up.
It’s well known that Jovan is controlling the narrative. He stacked staff with lackies to help do that.
Jovan needs to be fired.
This is absolutely disgusting.