Judges OK Pay Hike for Top Courts Executive : Salaries: Seven jurists oppose the 12.8% raise, which makes Sheila Gonzalez the third-highest paid county administrator.

With opposition from some brethren on the bench, Ventura County judges Tuesday awarded the top courts administrator a $12,400 raise just nine months after deferring on a $23,000 pay hike.

The 12.8% raise, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, brings Sheila Gonzalez’s base salary to $109,000 and makes her the third-highest paid appointed county administrator.

Seventeen of the county’s 27 judges voted for the raise, seven opposed it and two abstained, Superior Court Presiding Judge Melinda A. Johnson said.

Meanwhile, one of Gonzalez’s top two aides--Vincent Ordonez Jr.--said he was leaving his position in a move unrelated to the pay-raise issue.

Johnson said the new salary better compensates Gonzalez, 50, for the job she does day in and day out. She said Gonzalez--courts executive, clerk and jury commissioner--had gone three years without a raise.

Johnson also credited her with saving the county more than $3 million in the past four years by streamlining operation of the courts.

“That’s deserving of something,” Johnson said. “This is a pretty cheap pay-back.”

But one of the judges who opposed the pay hike disagreed.

“For some reason, efficiency always ends up with some top people making huge salaries and some people at the bottom making little salaries,” Superior Court Judge James McNally said. “I don’t get the reason we’re singling out top people to get big, bloated salary increases.” McNally said a study conducted by another dissenting colleague, Judge Frederick A. Jones, showed that Gonzalez received raises totaling $24,722 in the 19-month period that began in March, 1989. Jones could not be reached immediately.

Those previous raises added up to 34%, said McNally, who added: “You would think that would hold you a little while.”

McNally had previously said an appropriate raise for Gonzalez would be no more than 5% of her salary, or about $5,000. Other critics have said they would oppose any raise that exceeded 3%, citing countywide budget difficulties.

“I think this salary thing has become a terrible boondoggle,” McNally said. “It sends out a terrible message to the public.”

Others who have opposed the raise in the past were less critical. They said $12,400 is a steep pay hike, but is still better than the $23,000 proposed in March.

Last year, county Supervisor John K. Flynn threatened to cut the court’s budget if the judges awarded the $23,000 raise. On Tuesday, however, he viewed the 12.8% pay boost as a compromise.

“The judges have come down halfway and that’s good enough for me,” Flynn said. “I did all I could. I think they must have heard me.”

Judges from the Superior and Municipal courts backed away from the larger raise eight months ago, but formed a four-member committee that studied the issue.

The committee looked at the salaries of comparable court administrators in other counties and determined that Gonzalez deserved the 12.8% raise because of her extensive duties.

Johnson and Municipal Court Presiding Judge John R. Smiley said Gonzalez is the only administrator in California who serves as clerk of Superior and Municipal courts.

The judges said in a written statement that Gonzalez took over collections of fines and fees on behalf of the county’s probation office in May, supervising an additional 12 employees.

Furthermore, the two judges said other counties have multiple executives doing the same job Gonzalez does. For instance, they said Fresno County courts have a similar number of employees and judges as Ventura County, but have three administrators with salaries totaling $246,000 doing the job that Gonzalez does.

And San Mateo County has one more judge and 60 fewer employees than Ventura County, but it employs two court administrators who earn a combined salary of $171,850, the judges said.

Officials said Gonzalez becomes the third-highest paid appointed administrator in the county behind Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg ($123,630) and Health Care Agency Director Phillipp K. Wessels ($111,976).

Meanwhile, Ordonez said he was resigning as assistant executive officer effective Feb. 25.

Ordonez, who received a 5% pay increase in October and was scheduled to receive another 5% raise this year, said he just figured that it was time for a job change.

“I’m leaving under very good terms,” said Ordonez, who turned 46 on Tuesday. “I’m leaving because I want to leave.”

He said he wants to work in private industry, after 22 years of government service. All but seven of those years were with Ventura County, including a stint as budget analyst in the county’s chief administrative office. He was born and raised in the county.

“I’m proud of the fact that I am part of an organization that has saved taxpayers money,” said Ordonez, pointing to the savings achieved, in part, by recycling paper and reducing office supplies.

Ordonez said he feels that “perhaps there is something different out there. I don’t want to have to wait until I’m 65 to decide that it is time to make a change.”

Gonzalez, who refused to discuss her pay raise, said of Ordonez: “I’m going to miss him desperately.”

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Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.