Flynn, VanderKolk to Rescind Salary Cuts for Their Assistants : Government: Pair reverse last year’s decision that reduced aides’ pay, hours 10%. Budget slashes hit nearly all other departments.

Two Ventura County supervisors say they have reversed a July decision that cut the hours and pay of their assistants by 10%--a change that exempts their offices from budget cuts that hit virtually all other county departments.

Calling the aides’ pay cuts improper and unfair, Supervisors John K. Flynn and Maria VanderKolk said Monday that they will submit paperwork to reinstate the full salaries of their aides. Each has three assistants, who are now paid between $36,000 and $50,000 annually.

In July, county departments were required to absorb an average 10% budget cut to offset revenue losses for fiscal year 1993-94. Larger departments achieved reductions by cutting vacant positions and supplies. But the supervisors, who have relatively small budgets, were faced with cutting the pay of their employees to meet the 10% reduction.

Flynn and VanderKolk say their decision to increase their staffs’ pay is based on a recent finding by County Counsel James McBride that supervisors can act individually to rescind the cut, an action the supervisors took as part of an across-the-board budget reduction.

McBride also found that the county should continue paying a $150-a-month car allowance to supervisors’ secretaries, a benefit that was eliminated during the 1993-94 budget session.

McBride determined that since the supervisors did not formally change the county’s “memorandum of understanding”--the document that outlines employee pay and benefits--when they cut the car allowances, the secretaries could put in for back pay and continue receiving the benefit.

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So far, Flynn’s secretary was recently paid about $1,200 retroactively for her car allowance during the first half of the fiscal year. Requests from the secretaries of VanderKolk and Supervisor Vicky Howard for back payment are expected to be approved this week, county Auditor Controller Thomas O. Mahon said.

Meanwhile, Mahon said he will increase the pay of the assistants as soon as he receives the paperwork from the supervisors. However, he said, the county may be forced to dip into its contingency fund to cover the increases.

“It could prove to be a delicate matter,” he said.

Flynn, who asked McBride about a month ago to look into the salary matter, said he believes that the increases are justified.

“My staff works more than 40 hours a week,” Flynn said. “I cannot ask them to put in more hours and give them less pay. It was an inequity.

“We are a small department. It’s unfair to pose the same cuts as you would a large department.”

VanderKolk added: “(The aides) were the only people in the entire county to get their salaries cut. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. I really regret that action.”

But Supervisors Maggie Kildee and Susan K. Lacey said they will continue to honor the 10% reduction, saying they feel bound by their earlier decision to cut the pay. Howard could not be reached for comment.

“We made a commitment at the beginning of this year that we would help the county and its financial need,” Kildee said. “We will honor that commitment. I think that is the honorable thing to do.”

Both Lacey and Kildee said they would be willing to reconsider the matter during next year’s budget session, but only after the board finds other reductions to make.

“I think the board should do its part,” Kildee said. “When deciding the budget (next year), we might look at this. But, I think it is something that should be decided in public.”

Taxpayer advocate Michael Saliba, meanwhile, said he would also prefer that the board members wait until budget time to take up the matter of salaries.

“They should keep the cuts they instituted before,” Saliba said. “This is very bad timing.”