Former Sacramento city manager made nearly $800K in total wages last year
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Howard Chan earned $789,147 in 2024, ranking second among state city employees.
- Chan’s total wages included $397,000 in leave payouts approved by city contract.
- Chan remains on payroll in 2025 under a contractual assistant manager role.
Former Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan was the second highest paid city employee in California last year, according to new state data.
The 2024 payroll information, released last month by the California State Controller’s office, showed Chan made $789,147 in total wages. Only a fire battalion chief in Los Angeles ranked above Chan in the report, which spans more than 746,000 positions.
Chan’s total wages grew roughly 33% from the previous year and continued a yearslong increase. He earned about $305,000 in 2018, according to previous Bee reporting.
Chan remained the highest paid city manager in California for the third consecutive year. In Sacramento, he more than doubled the total wages for every city employee except for a fire captain who made $470,000.
Chan, in a written statement Monday, said he has not received any salary increases since February 2022. Much of his total pay in 2024, as in previous years, comes from his leave balances.
“It is also true that as a 22+ year city employee, I have accrued significant leave balances which I’ve opted to cash out last year, consistent with the terms of my employment contract,” Chan said in the statement.
Criticism of Chan’s pay contributed to the end of his tenure as Sacramento’s top executive officer in December. He reached the top of city government in 2016, following 14 years in the city’s parking division and as an assistant city manager. Chan faced pushback for his high salary and decision-making by residents and some council members in his final years in the position.
Chan remains on the city’s payroll for 2025 as the result of a provision added to his contract more than five years ago. He exercised the option, which granted him a job title of assistant city manager and a base salary of $340,812 for one more year. His contract with Sacramento will officially end in December 2025.
As in years past, Chan’s total pay in 2024 was inflated by leave hours.
His base salary of $367,432 didn’t crack the top 100 of regular pay from the California State Controller’s office report. But Chan received another roughly $397,000 from cashing out hours for sick, vacation and “additional time supplemental” leave.
Sick leave made up the majority of that pay at $221,129.
An additional chunk — $126,359 — came from “supplemental” leave hours. The hours were among the 64 weeks of paid leave granted to Chan in 2022 by two separate City Council votes. Chan has likely already cashed out all these council-approved hours as none of them appeared on a April 2024 payroll stub, according to to previous Bee reporting.
“These payouts were made in accordance with Mr. Chan’s employment agreement,” said city spokesperson Jennifer Singer in an email statement earlier this month. “He served the city of Sacramento for over 20 years, and per his contract approved by the City Council, he was entitled to cash out unused sick time and additional leave that had accrued over his tenure.”
The City Council is expected to select a new city manager in the fall.
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
