DANA POINT : Council Rejects Giving Up Stipends

City Council members have rejected Councilman Harold R. Kaufman’s proposal that they give up their $400 monthly stipend as a show of support to city staff members whose pay has been frozen.

The council voted 3 to 2 last week to keep the pay. Council members Karen Lloreda, Toni Gallagher and William L. Ossenmacher formed the majority.

Ossenmacher and Lloreda both said that any member who wanted to give up their stipend was free to do so.

“If you don’t want to accept the money, that’s great. But if you want it, that’s your business,” Ossenmacher said. “It’s less than minimum wage, I’ll tell you that.”

Mayor Judy Curreri voted with Kaufman on Tuesday night to give up the monthly stipend.

Kaufman made his proposal after a recent vote to freeze all merit pay increases to city staff members, a move estimated to save $32,000 this year. If council members rejected their salary, the city could have saved another $24,000, Kaufman said.

“We froze the merit increases for the staff, so I thought the council could show support for the staff members by saving another $24,000 a year,” Kaufman said. He vowed to press on with the issue.

“I’m now putting the merit increases back on the agenda,” Kaufman said. “I was the swing vote on this issue last time, so now maybe we can unfreeze the merit increases.”