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Desert Local News - Desert Local News Print and Virtual Edition April 17 2008 - Index

San Diego council OKs
raising own salaries
24 percent
CALIFORNIA WIRE
By matthew T. hall
san diego - The City Council
voted to increase its own salaries
monday - the same day the mayor
presented a budget that cuts pool
hours and playground inspections
and eliminates 130 jobs.
an aide for mayor Jerry sanders
quickly promised a veto of the
increase. But under the city charter,
the council can override the veto
simply by sustaining monday’s 5-3
vote.
The raises would increase annual
council salaries 24 percent to
$93,485 and mayoral pay 29 percent
to $130,000. They would take
effect Jan. 1, after term limits force
four of the eight council members
from office.
The vote comes as the city and
its leaders are recovering from a
battered reputation for approving
employee pension benefits that far
outstripped the city’s means. Federal
fraud charges were filed last
week against five former officials
accused of hiding the liability;
investigations continue.
The raises would cost a total of
$174,792 a year. By way of illustration,
that’s almost enough
to fund three supervisor positions
whose proposed elimination from
the parks budget could mean more
litter, graffiti and weeds.
Council members who approved the
raise said it would attract a better
pool of candidates. Those who opposed
it, such as Councilman Kevin
Faulconer, said the city had “many
more priorities.”
Councilman Ben hueso, who
suggested the amount of the raise,
noted that council members “make
policy here that drives our entire
county,” and said, “i don’t want to
become independently wealthy, but
i do depend on my salary.”
Councilman Tony young added that
council members should “make
a salary that doesn’t just attract
rich people, desperate people or
folks who are willing to sacrifice
just about anything to get into this
office.”
The council’s pay raise would
be several times more than city
employees are getting, as the city
continues to face financial issues
stemming from the pension problems.
Police and firefighter unions are
slated to get 6 percent and 5 percent
raises, respectively, in the fiscal
year that starts July 1.
The mayor’s budget contains no
proposed raises for other city
unions, representing deputy city
attorneys and white- and blue-collar
workers.
in saying the mayor would “absolutely”
veto monday’s council
vote, sanders aide Fred sainz said
the mayor “doesn’t know how”
he’d say those three labor unions
“are any less deserving” than their
elected officials.
in approving its own raise, the
council voted to eliminate a $9,600
annual auto allowance that had
come under fire after a report last
month in The san diego union-
Tribune that some cities considered
such allowances illegal.
There was no mention of the potential
illegality in the discussion.
Questions about it surfaced elsewhere
in the state in 2006 when
California law changed to require
elected officials to document mileage
before being reimbursed for
travel. But the issue wasn’t raised
in san diego until the union-Tribune
brought it to light.
“i would like to get some resolution
on the car-allowance issue,”
Councilwoman Toni atkins said
monday in the only allusion to the
legal question. “Maybe that is one
way to deal with it.”
The topic of car allowances was
not on the council’s meeting
agenda and there was no hint it
would come up. Then Jarvis ross,
a frequent speaker at City Council
meetings, suggested that the council
add the auto allowance to its base
salary and give itself a 3 percent
raise to boot, instead of accepting a
recommendation for a larger raise
from a city advisory commission.
instead, hueso proposed that the
council combine the salary and auto
allowance and then give itself a 10
percent pay raise on top of that - to
$93,485 or slightly less than the
commission’s recommendation of
$100,000.
The commission recommended
that sanders’ salary be set at
$130,000, which the council accepted,
although the mayor said
some time ago that he thought it
was imprudent to be accepting such
a raise. sanders voluntarily collects
only about one-third of his salary
because of the city’s financial crisis.
Council members will now be able
to be reimbursed for documented
mileage, as opposed to receiving a
flat rate. Assuming their allowances
accurately reflected their auto costs,
the city wouldn’t see a savings
there.
Council members atkins, hueso,
young, Jim madaffer and Council
president scott peters approved the
raise. Faulconer and council members
Brian maienschein and donna
Frye voted against.
27
maienschein said he knew what
the salary was when he took office,
and Frye, despite assurances to the
contrary from the City attorney’s
Office, questioned whether it was a
legal conflict of interest for her to
vote on her own salary.
The salary increase will also
increase the council members’
pensions, although no one asked by
how much or requested an analysis.
The city’s financial woes are rooted
in council decisions to increase employee
benefits while underfunding
the retirement system. it currently
has a billion-dollar deficit.
maienschein, peters, atkins and
Madaffer are leaving office this
year. maienschein and peters are
running for city attorney.
in urging his colleagues to support
the raise, madaffer said he didn’t
want to “mess things up for our
successors.”
an initial vote monday to reject the
salary setting Commission’s recommendation
outright failed when
the council deadlocked 4-4. atkins,
hueso, madaffer and young voted
against rejecting the raise. peters
joined them in supporting a raise
once the effective date was moved
to Jan. 1.