Fountain Valley Police Chief's $318,000 Salary? Not So Much, Officials Say

City officials in Fountain Valley are disputing an Orange County Register story published last Friday that claimed the city's police chief was paid more than $318,000 per year.

The article, part of the Register's regular "OC Watchdog" feature, listed public positions across the state that were in the "$300K Club," and cited that eight such positions were located in Orange County. Fountain Valley's police chief was listed among them, allegedly coming in at No. 310 out of 803,858 reported positions.

Fountain Valley City Manager Ray Kromer said Tuesday that the $318,786 figure reported by the Register included more than $139,000 in vacation and sick hours paid to outgoing Chief Paul Sorrell when he retired after more than 30 years on the job, all of them for Fountain Valley's Police Department. Also, Kromer said, that $139,000 is only 25 percent of the value of Sorrell's actual vacation and sick time balance.

Sorrell's base salary when he left the department was about $179,000 per year, Kromer said. New Chief Dan Llorens is paid a base salary of about $170,000 per year.