Bellflower : Council OKs Pay Hikes for 4 Administrators

The City Council has approved pay raises ranging from 17% to 37% for four top administrators--the city clerk, director of parks and recreation, planning director and finance director. The council voted 4 to 1 for the increases to keep the salaries competitive with those in surrounding cities, officials said.

Most other city employees will receive minimum raises of 3% to 5%. Pay for union-represented employees is still being negotiated, said Mike Egan, assistant to the city administrator. Egan said that raises will be paid out of $250,000 that the city has saved by not filling four vacant administrative positions and one clerical position over the last year. He said that a recent survey of administrative salaries in 14 surrounding cities showed that Bellflower ranked near the bottom.

Councilman Joseph E. Cvetko voted against the raises, calling it the “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses syndrome. We’ve got a Ford pocketbook while some cities have got a Cadillac pocketbook. I think the raises are way out of line.”

Councilman Randy Bomgaars said that if the city wants to keep its good employees, it must pay them competitive wages. “If that’s called keeping up with the Joneses I guess that’s what we are doing.”