2 Denounce Hefty Salary Hikes for Brass : City Hall: Critics cite recent layoffs and the city’s financial difficulties in decrying the council’s decision to raise some Huntington Park administrators’ salaries by as much as 30%.

A local activist and a Teamsters Union official denounced the City Council last week for approving much larger raises for some city administrators than for rank-and-file employees.

Some department heads received raises as high as 30% on Nov. 27 and a raise retroactive from July 1. Chief Administrative Officer Donald L. Jeffers received a 10.2% raise to $85,896, also effective Nov. 27. He did not receive a retroactive increase. Mayor William P. Cunningham defended the 30% raises for water and electrical superintendents Robert Bowcock and Neil Poole--noting that they assumed the additional responsibilities of two other superintendents who were laid off. Bowcock and Poole, who were paid $43,944 a year, now make $57,336.

Cunningham said Jeffers and the other administrators deserved the increases because of their performances.

Most of the city’s 175 workers received a 3.5% retroactive raise, another 3% increase is scheduled to take effect Feb. 5, according to city employment agreements.

Activist Luis Hernandez, said the raises are excessive, given the city’s poor financial condition. He cited the council’s vote in October to lay off 25 city employees to reduce costs. Hernandez campaigned against a proposed utility tax to raise $2.74 million in additional revenues. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the tax in a special election last September.

“This administration is not warranted in receiving the salary increases,” Hernandez said at a news conference in front of City Hall.

Hernandez was joined by Raymond Whitmer, a representative of Teamsters Local 911 of Long Beach, which represents workers in the city’s Public Works Department. Whitmer said the city did not bargain in good faith.

“We’re outraged about it and exploring the legal remedies we can take,” Whitmer said.

“They (the employees’ representatives) negotiated the raises,” Cunningham said. “They signed the agreement and that’s the raise they got.”

The City Council in October ordered the layoffs and made other cuts to reduce spending by about $800,000 this year, Jeffers said. The raises approved last month will cost the city $225,000 this year, he said.