Simi Valley City Council Votes 4-1 for 12% Raise : Salaries: Each member will receive $739 a month, a $79 increase, plus a 12% boost for expenses.

Citing job demands and the increased cost of living, Simi Valley City Council members voted unanimously Monday night to grant themselves a 12% pay raise, the first such hike in four years.

The $79-a-month raise means each council member will begin receiving $739 a month in mid-November--just shy of the maximum state law allows for a city of Simi Valley’s size.

The council approved the pay raise with Councilwoman Judy Mikels casting the lone dissenting vote. “I don’t think government needs raises right now,” said Mikels, who is abandoning her council seat to run for county supervisor.

Before the vote, taxpayer advocates said they objected to the pay raise, calling it inappropriate at a time when local governments are cutting services because of belt tightening.

“This is definitely not the time for local officials to be raising their compensation,” said Mike Saliba, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. “It’s a time when most people have to deal with increased fees and decreased services, and elected officials should be sensitive to that.”

But Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton called the raise a “matter of fairness.”

“Not everyone is Michael Huffington or Dianne Feinstein or (Los Angeles) Mayor Riordan,” he said of the millionaire politicians. “We struggle to put in long hours of service, and we, like anyone else, deserve to be compensated.”

Three council members supported Stratton’s reasoning, calling the $79 monthly raise a small price to pay for their service.

“When I look at this issue, the first thing I ask is whether the constituents think that the council has done a good job for them,” Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said. “And I can tell you, I haven’t gotten any complaints.”

Councilman Bill Davis, who is retired and said he devotes 40 to 60 hours a week to his post, said his friends were shocked when they learned he was paid less than $8,000 a year for his services.

“They thought I was crazy, that I should be making $50,000,” he said. “This is basically a full-time job.”

*

In addition to the increase in base pay, council members will receive a 12% increase for expenses, a boost that nearly keeps pace with the rising cost of living of the last four years, city officials said.

The council approved the salary increase now--rather than after the Nov. 8 election--because any raise a council grants itself does not go into effect until after the next council election.

Williamson, Davis and Stratton voted themselves a pay raise, since they will all retain their seats. Councilwoman Sandi Webb is seeking reelection this fall.

Some residents said they were offended that council members would issue themselves a raise, since the city is still feeling the effect of the recession.

“I don’t know of anyone in Simi Valley who is getting that kind of raise right now with the way the economy has been,” said Steve Frank, a conservative Republican activist. “I understand that we’re not talking about a lot of money. But as a symbolic gesture, they should understand what other people go through and not be greedy.”

But council members said they believed the Simi Valley budget is on track, and this decision would have no impact on city services.

The council would not have approved the raise had other city workers not received their own increases, members said. In 1992 the council voted to forgo an increase because city employees received no raise that year.

With the raise, compensation for the Simi Valley council will come closer to the Thousand Oaks council’s, where members earn $765 compared to the new Simi Valley wage of $739. Both cities provide council members with health benefits.

“I don’t think any of us do this job for the money,” Stratton said. “But I think it would be unfair to ask us to devote this much time and not pay us. And I think most anyone in Simi Valley would agree with that.”