Supervisors Boost Own Pay to $61,942, 2nd Highest in State

Orange County supervisors voted themselves a 5.16% raise Tuesday, boosting their annual salaries to $61,942 and making them better paid than supervisors in all but one of California’s 57 other counties.

The increase, which is effective immediately, is $62.40 a year more than originally planned. When the supervisors decided at the last minute to give Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks a 6% increase rather than the 4% recommended earlier by the county administrative office and the Personnel Department, their own raises increased automatically.

That is because the supervisors’ salaries traditionally have been determined by averaging the salaries of the county’s administrative department heads.

At the supervisors’ meeting Tuesday, County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish said he and Personnel Director Russ Patton were recommending an increase in their earlier proposal for Hicks’ raise by two percentage points.

No reason was given publicly for the increase, but supervisors’ aides said the district attorney had complained that it was unfair to keep him at the same annual salary as County Counsel Adrian Kuyper--$97,968 for 1988.

Hicks was said to have complained that Kuyper, who is appointed, is allowed to accumulate vacation and sick time and to cash in unused days when he retires, while Hicks, who is elected, does not have that benefit.

At $97,968, Hicks would have made less this year than the district attorneys in five other counties in the state, county officials said. With the boost to $99,861, he ranks second, trailing only the San Francisco County district attorney, who makes $100,008, according to Patton.

The supervisors approved raises for another 19 heads of county agencies and departments in addition to Hicks, leaving Recorder Lee Branch the only department head with no raise at all.

“I am a little hurt, yes,” Branch said. “I’m surprised. I’d be happy to talk with (the supervisors). I plan to talk with them to find out what the problem may be or if there is a misunderstanding.”

Branch’s salary remains $60,902 a year. The last time department heads got raises, in July, 1986, Branch got only a 2.5% increase, while the six other elected department heads got raises ranging from 7% to 11.4%.

The largest raise approved by the supervisors on Tuesday was for General Services Agency Director Bert Scott. The 9.3% increase raises his annual salary from $82,368 to $90,022.

The county’s highest paid department head is Parrish, the county administrative officer. With the 5% raise he received Tuesday, he is making $104,000 a year.

Supervisor Don R. Roth declined to discuss why he and his colleagues held the line on Branch’s salary, saying after the vote that the matter was discussed behind closed doors in December and he did not want to comment on those talks.

But Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said the board “is expressing its concern with (Branch’s) overall performance.”

Newly installed board Chairman Harriett M. Wieder said: “We rated on productivity, and that’s just it. He didn’t measure up.”

In 1985, while Branch was both recorder and county clerk, a county audit of his office was sharply critical, saying the recorder’s staff was rude toward the public and far behind in its work. But in October, 1986, after the supervisors appointed a new county clerk and left Branch as recorder, another audit found that the recorder’s office had improved.

Still, there was another quarrel last year when some county agencies wanted to move the recorder’s office to new space and Branch balked, saying the new quarters were inadequate. The recorder’s office remained where it was, on the first floor of the county finance building.

As is customary, there was almost no public discussion of the raises at the supervisors’ meeting Tuesday. Wieder said the increases “will maintain appropriate salaries” for department heads.

The supervisors’ raises left them behind only their counterparts in Los Angeles, who receive $84,764 a year. San Diego County supervisors receive $61,927.