L.A. Council Already Is Highest-Paid in U.S. : City Hall: Councilmen defend request for a $33,000 pay hike. But critics say that is asking for too much at the wrong time.

The Los Angeles City Council, which is seeking a nearly $33,000-a-year pay raise, already is the highest paid city council in the country, according to a Times survey.

If voters approve a June ballot measure, annual salaries for the 15 council members will rise to $94,344--more than many big-city mayors and all but five governors. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, for example, makes $80,000 a year, and Gov. George Deukmejian receives $85,000.

Even with the 53% pay raise, however, council members will be making less than dozens of Los Angeles city workers and department heads. Top police and fire officials make more than $90,000 a year. The head of the Department of Airports is paid $160,087, the city’s highest annual salary.

In light of such city salaries and pay rates in private industry, some council members believe that they are underpaid at $61,522 a year. During recent debate on the issue, Councilman Joel Wachs suggested that he and his colleagues would be content with the hourly wages of a plumber.

In fact, the council wants to be paid as much as Superior Court judges, who make $94,344 a year. The pay of Los Angeles County supervisors already is tied to that of the judges.

The public will be asked to vote on the council’s request as part of a complex ethics reform package that includes public financing of political campaigns, a ban on outside work and honorariums, and restrictions on gifts.

Backers and opponents say the measure’s success will hinge on whether voters want to approve substantial pay raises for city elected officials, including the mayor, city attorney and controller.

Council members and others say the raises are deserved and long overdue.

Arch Hardyment, executive director of L.A. Tax, a business association concerned with city and county fiscal matters, said last week that council members probably are underpaid and a raise may be merited.

“To attract high-quality people to run for (the council), it will have to be a little bit higher paying than it is now,” he said.

But Victor Tabbush, chairman of the city’s salary commission, is troubled by the amount of the council’s pay request.

“It was highly irresponsible of the council to ignore the recommendation of the official salary authority,” said Tabbush, assistant dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Management.

Tabbush headed the city commission that last year recommended raising council pay to the level of Municipal Court judges, who now get $86,156 a year. That amounts to $8,188 less than the council is seeking.

“We would like to be able to offer salaries that would attract qualified people,” he said. “Tying it to Municipal Court judge was on the generous side.”

The original ethics proposal--crafted by Councilman Michael Woo and a commission appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley--did not include a pay raise. The salary increase was added last month by the council during debate on the ethics package.

Geoffrey Cowan, head of the mayor’s ethics commission, has said he supports a pay raise but fears that such a steep raise could defeat the entire measure.

In arguing for higher salaries, City Council President John Ferraro has pointed out that some 1,500 city workers make more than the council. Included are dozens of police lieutenants, captains, commanders and deputy chiefs, fire department captains, battalion chiefs, assistant chiefs and deputy chiefs, as well as upper-level administrators in many departments.

However, Ferraro said last week he may change his mind and vote for a lower pay raise when the ethics package comes before the council for a final time Tuesday.

“I like to think I keep an open mind,” Ferraro said. “I could change my mind. This is something the whole council has to look at.”

Woo said late last week that the council might reduce the size of its pay request to make it more palatable to voters. “I think there is a desire on the part of the majority of the council to see this package pass,” he said. “A majority will not want the salary issue to be the major obstacle.”

Regardless of whether the council gets the raise, the members will continue to get substantial perquisites, including seven city cars per council office, two or three free offices at City Hall and in their districts, and annual budgets of nearly $700,000 a year. Council members are free to decide how to spend their allotments and most hire staffs of a dozen or more.

Other cities generally do not pay for district offices and few provide more than one car per council member, according to a Times survey of the seven most populous cities in the country and other data.

Mary Colby, research director of City & State, a trade newspaper for government officials, recently completed a national survey of city, county and state pay levels. She said that the perquisites and staffing budgets received by Los Angeles City Council members are “really amazing. . . . City councilmen in other places get nothing; maybe some staff, but no cars.”

Outside of Los Angeles, The Times found, the highest paid council members are in Detroit, where the salary is $60,000 a year.

New York’s 35 council members get a base pay of $55,000 a year. The council speaker gets $90,000 and two committee chairmen get $77,500, but New York council members generally earn less than their Los Angeles counterparts.

Philadelphia pays its 17 council members $40,000 a year. Houston, which has a part-time council, pays its 14 members $34,800.

Chicago’s 50 aldermen get $40,000 a year. San Diego’s eight council members get $45,000, and the mayor, who serves on the council, gets an additional $15,000.

Sheri Erlewine, a spokeswoman for the League of California Cities, suggested that Los Angeles council members, as leaders in the state’s largest city, may merit higher pay than officials elsewhere.

“More and more cities are interested in (properly) compensating their elected folks,” she said. “City government is becoming so much more complex that it takes a lot more time than it did 15 or 20 years ago. Most citizens do not understand what it takes to be a local elected official.”

That view is shared by Councilwoman Joy Picus, who argues that the Los Angeles City Council has far greater responsibility for the day-to-day city business than do councils in other large cities.

The Chicago City Council meets only twice a month, while Los Angeles council members meet three times a week; each of Chicago’s 50 aldermen represents far fewer constituents than do Los Angeles’ 15 council members.

“We have more responsibility and have full-time jobs,” Picus said. “I think we do as much constituent work easily as a congressional office.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said the Los Angeles council has far greater responsibility than New York’s council for the administration of city government, including planning and zoning matters. A court-ordered reorganization of New York city government will expand the size and responsibilities of its council.

Yaroslavsky said that he believes the Los Angeles council is underpaid but “couldn’t have picked a worse time to try and get approval for a pay raise.”

“In light of the ethics problems that have rocked this city in the last 10 months, it’s going to be very difficult to convince voters that the mayor in particular and elected officials in general are worthy of an increase.”

CITY COUNCIL SALARIES IN MAJOR CITIES LOS ANGELES

Current Pay: $61,522

Proposed Pay: $94,344

Population: 3.2 million

Number of council members: 15

Allocations per council office: Office budget for council president, $705,513; office budget per council member, $667,658; rent-free City Hall and district offices; seven automobiles; home alarm system linked to Police Department. NEW YORK

Current Pay: $55,000; Speaker, $90,000; two committee chairmen get $77,500; most others get smaller additional amounts.

Population: 7.2 million

Number of council members: 35 (reorganization plans will add 15 members).

Allocations per council office: Office budget, $177,000; rent-free office near City Hall. CHICAGO

Current Pay: $40,000

Population: 3 million

Number of aldermen: 50

Allocations per alderman: $123,563 average for salaries; $5,480 travel allowance; rent-free office at City Hall. HOUSTON

Current Pay: $34,800

Population: 1.7 million

Number of council members: 14

Allocations per member: Office budget, $75,903; car allowance $4,200; rent-free office at City Hall. PHILADELPHIA

Current Pay: $40,000

Pay in 1992: $65,000; president, $80,000; majority leader, $68,000; minority leader, $67,000.

Population: 1.6 million

Number of council members: 17

Allocations per member: Office budgets, $127,000-$188,000; one automobile; rent-free office at City Hall. DETROIT

Current Pay: $60,000; president, $63,000

Population: 1.1 million

Number of council members: 9

Allocations per member: Three administrative assistants, one secretary; one automobile; rent-free office at City Hall. SAN DIEGO

Current Pay: $45,000

Population: 1 million

Number of council members: 8

Allocations per member: Office budgets from $307,000 to $358,000; rent-free office at City Hall; tickets to professional sports events.