City Pay Hikes Amid Recession Raise Howls of Anger

The national recession has created a new political issue: public anger over pay raises for city employees.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, several speakers sharply criticized the council for a 5% pay raise given to 39 non-union city employees two weeks ago.

That same percentage pay raise was given last spring to police and most other union employees of the city, and at the time it caused no public outburst. But since then, a worsening economy has fueled anger, according to officials of the citizens’ group, Huntington Beach Tomorrow.

“I think people now recognize that we’re not coming out of the recession--that there’s no quick fix,” said Dave Sullivan, president of Huntington Beach Tomorrow. “And the recession has come home to roost: People in industries are not only not getting pay raises, they’re getting pink slips. State employees are not getting pay raises. Teachers are not getting pay raises. But with the Huntington Beach City Council, it’s business as usual.”

A countywide citizens’ group, Taxpayers Action Network, also assailed the City Council for giving pay raises this year.

Sullivan, in his speech to the council, suggested that all city pay raises given this year, including those to police, be renegotiated. If the union employees refuse to renegotiate, the city should lay off sufficient employees to match the cost of the new pay raises, Sullivan said.

At issue are two-year pay raises agreed upon by city management and most union employees earlier this year. The increases call for a 5% pay hike this year and 6% next year.

Public reaction to the pay raises did not surface until the council on Nov. 18 approved the pay hikes for 39 non-union city employees. Twelve of those employees are management, and 27 are non-management, including secretaries.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said it would be unfair to deny the non-union employees the same raise given the union employees. But critics immediately attacked the pay raise.

Ray Harbour, spokesman for the Taxpayers Action Network, said the pay hikes were “inappropriate.” He said that TAN, like Huntington Beach Tomorrow, favors a renegotiation of all pay raises given this year, including those to union employees.

Councilman Don MacAllister on Monday night suggested that the council consider rolling back the pay raises for the 39 city employees. However, no other council member spoke in favor of such an action, and MacAllister’s proposal died for lack of support.