SANTA ANA : 9% Pay Increase for City Manager OKd

The City Council this week approved a 9% pay raise for City Manager David N. Ream--his third raise in just over a year.

The 5-2 vote in favor of the raise increases Ream’s annual salary to $135,996.

The pay raise, the third for Ream since Jan. 1, 1990, was the first he has requested since taking over the city’s top administrative post almost five years ago. The other raises were automatic cost-of-living increases, Ream said.

With the new pay hike, Ream said, his salary ranks third in the county behind those of the city managers of Anaheim and Irvine, even though Santa Ana is the county’s largest city.

Two of the seven council members, John Acosta and Richards L. Norton, voted against the pay raise, claiming that Ream refuses to work with them.

“The city manager only serves the (council members) that he wants to serve, and they want to perpetuate him and I understand that,” Norton said. But “I can’t get him to return my phone calls.”