SIMI VALLEY : Council Weighs 30% Raise for Planners

With the rising prices of phone calls and gasoline, the Simi Valley City Council plans tonight to consider a 30% raise for city planning commissioners.

Planning Commission members are paid $250 a month. That stipend is meant to cover the cost of telephone calls and trips they must make to monitor and inspect projects under development in Simi Valley.

But the city staff wants to raise the amount for the first time since 1987, to $325 a month based on the rate of inflation, according to a staff report.

The higher fee would almost match the highest planning commission stipend paid in Ventura County--$375 monthly for Thousand Oaks commissioners, the report says.

It would also outstrip other cities’ rates. Camarillo commissioners meet twice monthly for $100 per meeting and a $25 monthly mileage allowance. Moorpark commissioners are paid $100 for each of one or two meetings per month. Oxnard commissioners earn $25 for each of their four monthly meetings.

Ventura County commissioners are paid $50 per meeting for an average of two per month, plus mileage reimbursement. And Ventura commissioners meet twice monthly for no pay, according to the staff report.

Simi Valley Planning Commissioner Michael Piper said his colleagues need the raise to $325 monthly to keep pace with expenses.

“I’ve found over time that some years my expenses are in excess of that, and those are documented to the IRS, and some years it is not in excess of that,” Piper said. “Lately, it is more in excess than not.” He declined to say how much he spends on Planning Commission business, saying: “I’ll share that with the IRS. I won’t share that with anyone else.”

Piper said of the proposed raise: “I don’t think it’s unwarranted to review it at this time. It’s been long enough since the last review.”