Top City Officials : O’Connor to Reopen Pay Raise Discussion

San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor plans to discuss publicly the pay increases she recommended for five top city officials after City Council members discovered they had inadvertently voted to grant the raises.

The council voted unanimously to grant the raises, ranging from 5% to 10%, as part of a voluminous ordinance setting salaries for thousands of city employees, including O’Connor’s recommended increases for the city manager, city attorney, city clerk, auditor and planning director.

Aides to the council members who voted on the salary-setting proposal said that the members were unaware that City Atty. John Witt’s salary was increased by more than 10% to $94,744, or that raises of between 5% and 6% were granted to the other top executives.

Salary Recommendations

Under O’Connor’s recommendations, City Manager John Lockwood’s salary would increase 5.8%, to $105,622; Auditor Ed Ryan would receive a 5.2% raise to $73,715; City Clerk Charles Abdelnour, up 6% to $64,293, and Acting Planning Director Mike Stepner, up 5.3% to $72,280. The raises take effect July 3.

A sixth position, whose salary is set by the mayor with concurrence by the City Council, is the director of intergovernmental relations. That position is vacant.

The salary ordinance contains all the negotiated and automatic pay increases for city employees, including an automatic $5,000 increase for City Council members, raising their annual pay to $45,000 as recommended by a salary-setting commission last year.

Only a recently approved settlement agreement with the Municipal Employees Assn. was discussed by council members before the comprehensive salary ordinance was introduced May 11.

Included in Packets

Jack Katz, chief deputy city attorney, said the mayor’s recommendations on the five executives’ salaries were included in the council members’ agenda packets, but he acknowledged that the single sheet of paper, among 70 or more pages of salary schedules, might not have been noticed.

The executives’ salary increases were in line with the 5% raises granted most city employees except for Witt’s 10.1% increase, which Katz explained was granted to bring his salary in line with the county’s top attorneys, District Atty. Edwin Miller and County Counsel Lloyd Harmon.

In past years, former mayors have notified council members of the salary figures by memorandum, Katz said, but O’Connor failed to.

Paul Downey, spokesman for the mayor, said O’Connor plans to bring the matter up for discussion Tuesday when the salary ordinance is scheduled for final passage. The mayor felt, however, that the council members should have read their council docket materials before the earlier vote.

Downey said the mayor does not expect any opposition to her recommendations at Tuesday’s meeting.

Still to be announced are decisions by City Manager John Lockwood on raises for Police Chief Bill Kolender and Lockwood’s deputy managers.