by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | November 7, 2025
VALLEJO – Police Chief Jason Ta became the highest paid city employee, by base salary, in July after the city’s unpresented employees received a five percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), pushing his annual base salary to $309,484.66.
Ta’s salary is $6,484 higher than City Manager Andrew Murray’s $303,000 annual salary, which has remained the same since Murray was hired in May 2024. The Vallejo City Council has yet to extend the contract, which officially ends on May 19, 2026.
Ta was named the permanent police chief in late 2024, two years after he became the interim following the sudden resignation of Chief Shawny Williams in November 2022.
However, despite the increase, Ta is not the highest paid city employee. That distinction continues to belong to Police Lt. Herman Robinson, who took home $494,173 in total pay in 2023, according to Transparent California. Robinson has been the highest paid Vallejo employee for multiple years.
Robinson received a base salary of $183,017, plus $275,325 in overtime, and $35,831 in “other pay,” the same online database shows.
Several other city employees are within distance of breaching the $300,000 annual salary threshold.
City Attorney Vernoica Nebb saw her salary climb to $273,187 after she received a three percent increase on July 12. It was the third such increase allowed in her employment contract with the city of Vallejo.
The council in September 2022 retroactively raised Nebb’s pay from $219,000 to $250,000, and included three percent salary increases for three straight years, starting on July 1, 2023.
Assistant City Manager Gillian Haen (nee Hayes) earns $126.8164 per hour for an annual base salary of $263,778. Haen is on step 5 of the salary schedule, while Nalungo Conley, who began with the city on July 7 as the second assistant city manager, is on step 4, with a base salary of $251,000.
Conley currently serves as acting finance director, following the departure of Rekha Nayar, who left Vallejo last month to accept s similar position with the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. It wasn’t immediately known if Conley is receiving extra pay as the acting finance director.
Haen was originally hired as the city’s planning & development services director in October 2019 by then-City Manager Greg Nyhoff before being promoted to the now defunct interim deputy city manager position in October 2020 by Nyhoff.
Haen was then promoted to interim assistant city manager in July 2021 by then-Assistant City Manager Anne Cardwell following Cardwell’s elevation to interim city manager.
Following the city council’s decision to make Water Director Mike Malone the permanent city manager in April 2022, Haen was made a permanent assistant city manager by Malone at the same time.
Additional top base salaries include interim Fire Chief Arthur Gonzales earning $253,396 annually, Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner pulls in $245,353 per year, while both Kristin Pollot, planning and development services director, and Water Director Beth Schoenberger earn $220,926 each year.
Over in the city of Benicia, the city council there approved a new contract with City Manager Mario Giuliani, who received a 2.5 percent COLA. The contract has built in salary bumps that ensure he is the highest paid employee in Benicia.
Giuliani’s new monthly salary will be $20,211.13, for an annual base salary of $242,533. Additional terms include a June 21, 2026, raise which will allow the city manager salary to match the salary of the public works director. Currently, the highest step on the public works director salary scale states that the position is eligible for $20,589.31 per month.
Giuliani will receive a third raise, this time on June 21, 2027, in which he will earn three percent over the highest salary schedule rate, currently held by the police chief position. That rate is currently set at $22,029 per month.
JohnGlidden.com 