L.A. Launches Merit Pay With 5%-14% Hikes for Top Officials

After nearly two years of rumination, the Los Angeles City Council has launched a merit-pay plan for top city executives, boosting the salaries of 30 department heads from 5% to 14.1%.

The merit-pay system supplants a previous system of providing executives with a uniform pay hike such as those given other employees.

Ezunial Burts, Harbor Department general manager, received the largest raise, from $101,101 to $115,383--a boost that incorporated both an 8% merit raise for “fully satisfactory” performance and another 6.1% to compensate for a freeze on his salary in an earlier period.

Among other city officials, Chief Administrative Officer Keith Comrie received a “superior” 10.1% merit raise from $106,697 to $117,262; Department of Airports General Manager Clifton Moore received a 10% increase, taking him to $134,446; Police Chief Daryl F. Gates received a “fully satisfactory” 8% raise from $117,951 to $127,389, and Fire Chief Donald Manning received an 8% hike, to $120,603.