Photo by afagen.

Most everyone knows that the District’s government is big — some 33,000 people work for it. But today, The Washington Times breaks down why it’s so costly and how that’s slowly changing.

After being elected to his first term as mayor, Marion Barry dramatically expanded the size of the city’s government — some 4,000 people were hired — offering many African American residents the chance at a solid middle-class job. That expansion continues to cost District taxpayers:

As a result, the median salary for an executive assistant is now $72,000, with 1 in 10 making $90,000 or more, and the highest-paid making $110,000, a Washington Times analysis of tax records found. Payroll for the District’s 33,400 employees has swelled under the strain of a disproportionately aged workforce that includes thousands of low-level workers who are making salaries commensurate with many years of experience.

The article cites a few of the more interesting examples, including a custodian who makes over $100,000 a year and a dozen scuba divers kept on the Metropolitan Police Department’s payroll, some of whom take in six-figure salaries.

But more than money, the article notes, the District’s government is looking less and less like the residents it serves, with the former remaining older and the latter growing younger. Also, many of the jobs are hopelessly behind the technological curve:

Many jobs are still geared toward yesteryear. Millions of dollars are spent yearly on workers whose functions are making photocopies and transcribing handwritten forms, and job titles still distinguish between secretaries who can type and those who can’t. Illuminating a seeming preference for processing postal mail over email and filing cabinets over instantaneous searches is the fact that 1 in 5 clerical assistants have worked for the city for more than 20 years.

If there’s any silver lining to the city’s bloated government, it’s that many of its oldest workers are retiring — according to the article, the city’s government rolls stood at above 35,000 in 2008, and have decreased since.