Local News in Brief : City Treasurer Gets Pay Increase

The Hermosa Beach City Council unanimously approved the request of recently elected City Treasurer Gary Brutsch and raised his monthly salary to $750 from $500.

Brutsch, who was elected to the four-year, part-time position last November, said the salary is just a “token,” but he wanted it raised to its former level. In 1984, the City Council, of which Brutsch was a member, raised former City Treasurer Norma Goldbach’s salary to $750 from $500. Eleven months later, the council reduced her salary to $500.

Brutsch said Goldbach’s salary was reduced because she seldom attended council meetings and council members thought she was unresponsive.

Brutsch recently has been criticized by several council members for investing city money in two savings and loan firms that had been put in federal receivership and last week were declared insolvent. Brutsch has defended the deposits, telling the City Council that the money was insured and that the city has gotten all of it back, including interest.

Brutsch said in an interview, however, that the city lost four to six days worth of interest between the time the savings and loans were declared insolvent and last Monday when he reinvested the money. The interest lost was much less than the interest collected while the money was invested in those firms at above-average rates, he said.

Nevertheless, while discussing those investments at this week’s council meeting, most of the council members commended Brutsch for his performance as city treasurer so far.