CA: Supervisors' pay tied to boost in judges' salary (San Diego)

San Diego Union - Tribune ^ | 5/7/07 | Craig Gustafson

[NormsRevenge]

For most politicians, the hardest thing to do is to vote to give yourself a raise. Even suggesting the idea can be dangerous politically.

Just ask county Supervisor Bill Horn.

Horn proposed a nearly $29,000 increase to the supervisors' annual salaries in 2005 and infamously said, “Nobody who got elected took a vow of poverty. We're not Franciscans.” The proposal was quickly scuttled after much public outcry.

Since then, supervisors quietly have amassed $22,248 in increases to their annual salary – boosting it to $137,318 – with no public outrage and scant media scrutiny. And they didn't have to say a word.

California lawmakers unwittingly bestowed the most recent pay increase on supervisors in this year's state budget, which called for an 8.5 percent salary increase for Superior Court judges on Jan. 1.

In 1977, the county Board of Supervisors voted to tie their pay to 80 percent of Superior Court judges' salaries beginning July 1, 1981, avoiding the uncomfortable prospect of voting to give themselves a raise. That was more than a decade before any of the current supervisors took office.

Several county officials said they had no idea supervisors had received a raise in January.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob said she doesn't think there is any perfect way to determine when and how to increase the salaries of elected officials. So far, Jacob said she hasn't received complaints about the current arrangement.

Lani Lutar, president of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, said the current salary process “eliminates the opportunity for the public to really weigh in in an effective way,” because the decision is made in Sacramento.

Lutar called it “troubling” that supervisors would accept an increase when the county faces a $1.2 billion pension deficit.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders takes home about $36,000 of his $100,464 annual salary to keep a campaign promise not to re-enter the city's pension system. San Diego City Council President Scott Peters takes home about $3,800 less than the $75,386 his colleagues make annually after refusing a raise several years ago.

Jacob said the county is in much better financial shape today than when the county was on the brink of bankruptcy when she took office in 1992. She took a 10 percent pay cut at the time but said such drastic measures aren't necessary now. She called the pension debt manageable.

San Diego County supervisors aren't the only elected officials or political appointees with their salaries tied to judges.

Members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors receive 100 percent of a Superior Court judge's salary. Elected officials in several counties – Alameda, Orange, Riverside and Santa Clara – receive 80 percent of a judge's salary.

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority also pays its three executive board members the full amount – $171,648 – of a judge's salary.

State Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, has introduced a bill to eliminate those highly paid positions in an effort to revamp the airport authority.

[NormsRevenge]

... supervisors quietly have amassed $22,248 in increases to their annual salary – boosting it to $137,318 – with no public outrage and scant media scrutiny. And they didn't have to say a word.

California lawmakers unwittingly bestowed the most recent pay increase on supervisors in this year's state budget, which called for an 8.5 percent salary increase for Superior Court judges on Jan. 1.

In 1977, the county Board of Supervisors voted to tie their pay to 80 percent of Superior Court judges' salaries beginning July 1, 1981, avoiding the uncomfortable prospect of voting to give themselves a raise.