Simi Valley Becomes 1st City to Release Detailed Figures on Compensation

In the wake of an uproar over the lucrative pay and benefits received by top Ventura County officials, Simi Valley on Thursday became the first city to release a detailed account of the compensation it provides to elected and appointed officials.

The report showed that City Council members earn $18,000 to $22,000 in pay and benefits annually, and City Manager Lin Koester’s yearly compensation package is valued at just over $183,000.

Simi Valley officials said they provide none of the extra cash payments that have triggered surprise and anger among county government watchdogs.

According to figures released this week, top county officials are receiving money beyond their base pay for education and length of service.

They also received seven extra weeks’ salary each year, called in-lieu-of-vacation pay, even though they set their own schedules and took as much vacation time as they wanted.

Those benefits were scaled back Sept. 15 at the Board of Supervisors’ regular meeting.

“Those have been proposed by our employee associations,” said Mike Sedell, Simi Valley’s assistant city manager. “But those have historically been opposed by management here because we don’t think that kind of pay is appropriate.

“When we are recruiting for a management position, if we want somebody to have a degree, we put that in the job specification. . . . There’s nobody in the city who has no set vacation time and is instead compensated with extra salary.”

Sedell said the pay and benefits figures were released after requests from reporters. He added that the city has received no complaints from residents in the wake of the county’s debate over pay.

Personnel officials of most other Ventura County cities said Thursday that they are compiling similar lists of the salaries, benefits and other compensation paid to their top officials.

They agreed to do so at the request of The Times, which has asked for the officials’ base pay, retirement and health benefits, expense and car allowances and any other stipends or compensation received for government work.

Simi Valley officials said their compensation is confined to a base salary and traditional benefits such as retirement funds, expense accounts, an automobile allowance and health coverage. The value of benefits varies among council members and city employees because of the health plans they choose and the number of family members covered.

For council members and most city staff members, the amount paid into retirement benefits follows a formula dictated by the state’s Public Employees Retirement System.

But under agreements approved by the City Council, the city pays an extra $15,000 annually into Koester’s PERS account and an extra $8,000 into City Atty. John Torrance’s account, said Laura Herron, the city’s acting director of general services.

The city also puts an extra $8,200 into Koester’s 401K plan, a separate retirement account, Herron said.

City officials said administrators in high tax brackets often defer some of their compensation until after their retirement, when it is likely to be taxed at a lower rate.

Thousand Oaks officials Thursday provided a compensation list that was less detailed than Simi Valley’s. It indicated that City Manager Grant Brimhall is Thousand Oaks’ highest-paid official, earning $165,729.60 a year in salary and benefits.

Brimhall’s package includes state-mandated and city retirement benefits of $15,841.80 and deferred compensation of $18,279 a year, according to figures provided by George Eckman of the city’s Personnel Department.

The value of Koester’s total compensation package is nearly identical to the sum earned by Richard Wittenberg, the county’s chief administrative officer, according to figures released Monday.

However, county officials have said the figure they released did not include all of Wittenberg’s retirement benefits, which they are still calculating.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said Koester has no long-term contract with the city.

“He has some deferred compensation benefits that are roughly the equivalent of severance pay built into his package,” the mayor said.

In other cities or counties, when the chief administrator is fired before his or her contract expires, the city must negotiate a settlement for the time left on the contract.

Koester, 51, previously worked for Ventura County as director of environmental services. He left to work briefly in the private sector, then became city manager of Simi Valley in 1979.

He said Thursday that he was surprised to find that his compensation package was close to that of his former co-worker, Wittenberg.

But Koester added, “To try to compare city manager to county administrators is really an apples-and-oranges comparison. The jobs are different.”

Similarly, the elected county supervisors’ posts are considered full-time jobs, while City Council jobs are not. Four of the five Simi Valley council members hold full-time private jobs in addition to their city duties.

The fifth, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Davis, is a retired businessman who says he spends 40 to 60 hours a week on city business. Davis joked that his council pay comes to about 24 cents an hour.

“I don’t worry about what anyone else says about how much I get paid by the city,” he said Thursday. “You do this as a labor of love. None of the council members do this to make a profit.”

Davis said county officials might have avoided the outcry over their pay package if they had made the information public more promptly.

“If the county had shown all these numbers upfront, they wouldn’t have had a problem,” Davis said.

Times staff writer Mack Reed contributed to this story.

Simi Valley Officials’ Annual Compensation in 1992

Redevelopment Expense Agency Base Pay Retirement Allowance Board Pay* Mayor $7,920 $1,130 $3,360 $720 Greg Stratton Mayor Pro Tem $7,920 $1,130 $2,700 $720 Bill Davis Councilwoman $7,920 $1,130 $2,700 $720 Judy Mikels Councilman $7,920 $1,130 $2,700 $720 Michael W. Piper Councilwoman $7,920 $1,130 $2,700 $720 Sandi Webb City Manager $120,069 $33,361 $5,103 $0 Lin Koester Asst. City Manager $89,274 $12,735 $0 $0 Bob Hunt Asst. City Manager $89,938 $12,830 $0 $0 Mike Sedell City Attorney $105,534 $23,138 $2,700 $0 John Torrance Police Chief $92,513 $21,577 $0 $0 Lindsey Miller Dir. of Environmental $93,535 $13,343 $0 $0 Services Diane Davis-Compton Acting Dir. of $74,764 $10,665 $0 $0 General Services Laura Herron Public Works Dir. $94,856 $13,531 $0 $0 Ronald Coons

Auto Other Allowance Benefits** Total Mayor $0 $8,724 $21,854 Greg Stratton Mayor Pro Tem $0 $8,724 $21,194 Bill Davis Councilwoman $0 $6,155 $18,625 Judy Mikels Councilman $0 $6,155 $18,625 Michael W. Piper Councilwoman $0 $8,724 $21,194 Sandi Webb City Manager $4,341*** $20,164 $183,038 Lin Koester Asst. City Manager $2,400 $9,476 $113,885 Bob Hunt Asst. City Manager $2,400 $12,009 $117,177 Mike Sedell City Attorney $3,600*** $6,721 $141,693 John Torrance Police Chief $2,400 $9,476 $125,966 Lindsey Miller Dir. of Environmental $2,400 $8,495 $117,773 Services Diane Davis-Compton Acting Dir. of General $0 $9,206 $94,635 Services Laura Herron Public Works Dir. $2,400 $8,676 $119,463 Ronald Coons

* $30 per meeting, two meetings maximum per month ** Includes city funds contributed to 401K plans and medical benefits *** City buys cars for these employees; figure represents annual cost

Source: City of Simi Valley