BLOOMBERG - Nurse Keller wouldn't quite qualify for the "top 1%" based on her income of $269,810, but would certainly easily qualify for the "top 5%," which required an income of "only" $154,643 in 2009 (data here). No wonder California has a $19,000,000,000 deficit.
- "Jean Keller earned $269,810 last year working as a nurse at a men’s prison on California’s central coast by tripling her regular pay with overtime hours. Keller got more overtime in 2010 than any other state employee. In all, California’s public workers collected $1.7 billion of extra pay last year....California paid the additional wages -- enough to fund the average salaries of about 25,000 teachers -- as it faced a $19 billion deficit and cut school spending and services for poor children and the elderly. The state may have to trim the academic year by seven days and eliminate some student busing if revenue shortfalls persist.
