Yorba Linda : Council Can’t Agree on Raising Its Pay

City Council members are divided on whether to grant themselves a $100-a-month pay raise that would go into effect in December, 1992.

Council members voted 2 to 2 this week on drawing up an ordinance that would permit the pay raise, but three votes will be necessary for the ordinance to pass when it comes back before the council later this month. Mayor Mark Schwing, who said he gives his monthly pay to charity, abstained from voting.

The raise, which would bring council members’ monthly salaries to $500, is being considered because the city’s population has increased to 52,367. State law allows cities with a population of 50,000 to 75,000 to pay council members $500 a month.

“I was just thinking of compensating the council for the time and effort to do the job,” said Councilman Gene Wisner, who proposed the increase.

Wisner, who owns a retail shoe business, said that time spent away from the business while he attends to council duties costs him “a couple of thousand dollars a month.”

“You spend an awful lot of time” on the City Council, Wisner said. “You’re just constantly going. . . . It certainly isn’t to make money.”

He added that council members have to perform duties beyond attending regular meetings, such as assignments to regional committees.

“It’s not just 2 1/2 hours at a meeting every two months,” Wisner said.

Councilmen Irwin M. Fried and Henry W. Wedaa voted against the pay raise. Fried said that with the city facing an $800,000 budget shortfall, a pay raise would be “inappropriate.” He also said that it would be poor timing because the City Council on Tuesday refused to give $10,000 toward a child-care study.

“I think it’s hypocritical to then turn around and line our pockets with a pay raise,” Fried said Thursday.

On average, City Council members in Orange County are paid $412.77 a month. In cities with population of 50,000 to 75,000, the monthly average is $509.50. Council members are also entitled to a 5% cost-of-living increase per year, but the Yorba Linda council has not chosen to exercise that option.

Yorba Linda council members started receiving $150 per month in 1968, a year after incorporation. They received no compensation before 1968.