City Manager to Earn $98,500 in Santa Ana

David Ream, who will take over as Santa Ana city manager Monday, will be paid $98,500, making him the highest-paid such official in Orange County, city officials disclosed Tuesday.

City Manager Robert C. Bobb, who will step down Friday to assume the same position in Richmond, Va., makes $84,000 annually. As the top administrator of the Virginia state capital, Bobb will earn $110,000.

Santa Ana Vice Mayor P. Lee Johnson said Tuesday that Ream’s pay is “commensurate” with the task of running the administration of the county’s most populous city--if undocumented residents are counted.

‘It’s a Tough Job’

“I think I’d call it a pay package that equates with the position. . . . It’s a tough job and you’ve got to pay a man what he’s worth,” Johnson said.

Although Ream’s salary will be about 15% more than Bobb was earning, Councilman John Acosta said he believes that Bobb would have received at least that much had he chosen to stay in Santa Ana. Ream, Acosta said, is worth the pay package.

“We have a quality city manager, a professional, and you have to pay for what you get. You can’t buy a Cadillac for a Pinto price,” he said. “We got a bargain.”

The county’s next highest-paid city managers are Huntington Beach’s Charles W. Thompson, at $97,760, and Anaheim’s William O. Talley, whose annual salary is listed at $96,422.

Behind them are Newport Beach’s Robert L. Wynn, earning $92,467 annually, and Irvine City Manager William Woollett Jr., who earns “somewhere in the $90,000 to $92,000 range,” according to city officials.

The county’s lowest-paid city manager is Villa Park’s Carolyn Veregge, who earns about $50,000. She also serves as the city clerk.

Several county sources who did not want to be identified indicated that Talley earns more than his peers, after calculating various aspects of his salary arrangement. However, in terms of base salary, Ream now leads.

Ream’s salary package, approved by the City Council late Monday night, includes a standard 7% contribution to the Public Employees Retirement System and $7,500 in deferred compensation, which goes into a tax-free account that employees normally don’t utilize until retirement.

In addition, Santa Ana will pay for Ream’s car, the moving expenses from his current residence in Seal Beach and $20,000 for “housing expenses” in locating a home in the city.

He will also get life, disability and dental insurance, plus legal representation for any “alleged act or omission occurring in the performance of said officer’s duties.”

Long Beach Native

Ream, 41, is now the city’s economic development director. The Long Beach native, who began working for the city as a management analyst in 1978, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Mayor Dan Griset called the salary “a nice package” and stressed that the council hoped to avoid a situation in which the city manager is not the top-paid administrator in City Hall.

Because Bobb had not received a raise in more than a year, Griset explained, he was only the third-highest-paid city employee.

“We expect a great deal from him (Ream),” Griset said, adding that he would like to see Ream stay in the position for “10 years.”

Gann Initiative

Ream’s salary, plus those of many other city managers throughout the state, could be threatened by the so-called Gann initiative, noted Robert Dunek, executive director of the county chapter of the League of California Cities.

The initiative, which is sponsored by Paul Gann and has qualified for the November election, would limit the pay of officials to 80% of the state governor’s salary, which would be set at $80,000.

“It (the initiative) has the potential to affect all but one (Veregge) of Orange County’s city managers,” he said.

Dunek speculated that passage of the initiative would mean that the most qualified city officials--or applicants for such positions--would seek jobs in the private sector “or go East.”