TRUCKEE/TAHOE, Calif. and#8212; Have you ever wondered how much your local public officials make per year, and how they rate against similar positions in the region?

The Sierra Sun, in partnership with its sister paper in Grass Valley, The Union, has launched an online salary watchdog program and#8212; dubbed Salary Explorer and#8212; in an effort to provide taxpayers with this important information.

Simply visit http://www.sierrasun.com/salary and#8212; or click the icon on the newspaperand#8217;s main web page and#8212; to view annual salaries for many regional government positions, including locally with the town of Truckee and city of South Lake Tahoe, and all of Nevada, Placer and El Dorado counties.

---

---

In all, there are 19 government entities featured, so you can compare the annual salary of any position with those in cities such as Grass Valley, Rocklin and Auburn, or even Sutter or Yuba counties.

Other features include the ability to cross check a city or county population with the average annual salary of its public employees and view which job titles are common among all entities.

---

---

The numbers are courtesy of the California State Controller’s Office (lgcr.sco.ca.gov) and are based on figures provided for calendar year 2009.

The project began in early November 2010, with data for Grass Valley and Nevada County, and was developed by Tom Harbert, a member of Swift Communicationsand#8217; Internet team. The Union and Sierra Sun are two of the many publications under Swiftand#8217;s umbrella.

If anyone can help supply data for other local public entities in the region, or has feedback, please contact Harbert at 530-477-4257, or at tomh@theunion.com.