(Dec. 10, 2007) -- Just days after Councilmembers Suja Lowenthal, Gary DeLong, Patrick O'Donnell, Dee Andrews, Val Lerch voted (as urged by Mayor Bob Foster) to prevent the public from requiring a separate vote on individual items lumped by city officials into a collective "consent calendar," city management is using the procedure to bury its response to City Hall's "six figure club" salaries, a listing compiled annually by the Long Beach Business Journal.
In the item, scheduled for the Dec. 11 Council meeting, management seeks Council approval to let managers give annual raises totaling up to 7% for "business/executive" level city employees without voted Council approval.
Management could also grant additional raises beyond this level with "Council approval" [presumably as a consent calendar item although that's not stated].
In the public interest, LBReport.com posts a link below to audio of salient portions (under four minutes) of the item when it came to the Council's "Budget Oversight Committee" on Nov. 6.
Human Resources Director Suzanne Mason read the current salary resolution which states, "As merited by performance and demonstrated ability of said employee through an evaluation process, provided however that the sum total of all said increases or decreases in compensation for any such employee shall not exceed [currently reads] 12% during any fiscal year without approval of the City Council." Ms. Mason told the Committee that management recommends changing the 12% increase to 7%.
This year's Business Journal "six figure club" report drew more public attention than usual following Mayor Foster's August admonition that the City is living "paycheck to paycheck"...a quote cited by Business Journal publisher George Economides in sandpapering City Hall's ballooning pay and benefits.
In response to a building brouhaha, city management proposed what it called a "hiring freeze" (allowing major exceptions) and a mechanism to let management hand out raises of up 7% annually for high level management employees without the raises coming to the City Council, lowering the current specified annual maximum from 12% to 7%.
On Nov. 6, management's proposal was heard by the Council's "Budget Oversight Committee" (Chair, DeLong; Vice Chair O'Donnell, member: Suja Lowenthal). LBReport.com provides salient audio of those proceedings below.
With Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal absent, management described its hiring freeze and salary resolution plan to the Committee. Councilman DeLong made a motion to approve, seconded by O'Donnell...and before taking public comment (as legally required) -- and with the previously absent Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal entering the Council Chamber as the vote was being taken -- the item carried 2-0.
After the vote had already been taken, chair DeLong took comments from members of the public. Larry Boland urged the Committee not to approve the 7% raises proposed by management, noting this could total up to 35% over five years. He recommended that the Consumer Price Index or some other formula be used.
Noting that chair DeLong was a businessman, Mr. Boland asked if the maganitude of taxpayer monies being transfered from City Hall to its employees gave him pause. Chair DeLong said nothing in response...and stone silence followed for roughly six seconds, broken only by Mr. Boland saying "thank you for the answer."
After Mr. Boland left the podium, Chair DeLong responded: "Thank you for your comments and I think that each of us would share we share your concerns that we're managing the city's funds appropriately and I think that this motion to reduce from 13 [sic] to 7 percent is a certainly a step in that direction. Thank you for your comments."
Councilman DeLong then moved on to the next item.
The Committee's recommendation to allow up to 7% annual raises for high level city management comes despite a Sept. 18 report to the Mayor and Council from (now former) Financial Management Director Mike Killebrew stating that property and sales taxes are both "trending below budgeted levels."
Since the Council's Sept. 07 budget adoption, news has continued to mount on deepening impacts of the subprime mortgage meltdown and credit crunch on the real estate market...with resulting drops in property tax revenue affecting city, county and state government.
These issues weren't discussed by the Council's "Budget Oversight Committee" at its Nov. 6 meeting...which voted 3-0 to "receive and file" management's Sept. 07 3rd quarter Budget Performance Report without asking any questions publicly or making any comments publicly.
The Committee's vote likewise came before seeking public comment...with chair DeLong inviting public testimony only after the vote had been taken (without objection from Committee members O'Donnell or S. Lowenthal).
To hear salient portions of the "Budget Oversight Committee's" consideration of management's proposed 7% annual pay raise authority click here (MP3 file, 3.6 MB). We indicate edits with a "whoosh" sound.
