MISSION VIEJO : City Manager Gets $11,000-a-Year Raise

Over the objections of a councilman and a local tax reformer, the City Council has given City Manager Fred Sorsabal an $11,000 annual raise.

The 4-1 vote last week also made the pay increase retroactive to last April, a salary boost that most council members said was overdue.

“It was a well-deserved merit increase,” Councilman Robert D. Breton said.

Sorsabal’s annual salary went from $105,840 to $115,886, while his car allowance increased from $300 to $450 per month. The three-year contract also provides Sorsabal with six months’ severance pay if he is terminated “for any reason other than good cause,” the pact reads.

Councilman Robert A. Curtis voted against the raise.

“While I join my colleagues in support of the city manager, I respectfully dissented on the compensation package,” Curtis said. “I want to make sure these executive compensation packages are contained.”

Breton pointed out that Sorsabal helped the city accumulate a $21-million budget surplus.

“The huge reserves we have accumulated are due in no small part to him,” Breton said. “It would be penny-wise and pound-foolish for us to hold back $10,000 when we have $21 million in reserves.”

The raise was also protested by a representative from the Taxpayers Action Network of Orange County.

Members of the group, which organizers say numbers about 800, have also fought against pay raises given to the Orange County Board of Supervisors and San Clemente City Manager Michael W. Parness. Both eventually gave back their salary increases.