Despite Vow, Vasquez Hasn’t Taken Pay Cut

SANTA ANA — Despite pledging to reduce his salary by 5% to share the burden of Orange County’s bankruptcy, Board of Supervisor’s Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez has not done so even though he helped pass an ordinance to make such a gesture possible.

Of three county supervisors who vowed eight months ago to cut their base pay in the wake of the bankruptcy, Vasquez has not yet followed through in reducing his $82,056 salary. Supervisor Roger R. Stanton reduced his pay in May by 5%, and Supervisor William G. Steiner slashed his by 10% effective this month.

Vasquez, in an interview from Washington, where he attended a hearing on the county’s bankruptcy, said he plans to cut his salary after receiving some clarification on the paperwork that authorizes the reduction.

“I intend to fulfill my commitment,” Vasquez said Thursday evening. “I’ve been trying to get around to it for weeks. I’ve had a lot on my plate. I’ve been inundated by this [bankruptcy] stuff. . . . Time has gotten away from me and that is regrettable.”

Supervisors Jim Silva and Marian Bergeson--the only current supervisors not on the board when the county declared bankruptcy Dec. 6--made no promises to cut their base salaries, but have not accepted car allowances or use of county-owned vehicles. Bergeson also has not accepted stipends for sitting on the county’s transportation board.

Even though he has not cut his salary, Vasquez said he has refused some perks that have reduced his total income by more than 5%. Among his reductions: he declines a county car and car allowance, pays for his own fuel and doesn’t accept any stipends for sitting on boards of various county agencies.

Eliminating those types of perks and stipends can add up. For example, car allowances alone are $465 a month or $715 a month, depending on how long the supervisor has been in office. Additionally, supervisors can earn several hundred dollars a month just by sitting on various county boards.

“I’ve taken significant reductions and gone beyond the norm,” Vasquez said of his cuts. “I believe I am fulfilling my pledge.”

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Furthermore, Vasquez said his office budget is the lowest among his colleagues despite representing the second-most-populous district.

Vasquez said he was ready to sign the form to reduce his pay but then postponed filling it out when the language of the document was revised. He said he wanted to review the new language before he signed it. Vasquez said he could not remember when the paperwork was reworded.

Once he does sign the form, he said, he’ll make the salary reduction retroactive.

Vasquez’s explanation was not accepted by some community activists.

“The chairman has given his word on certain things before and indicated that his word was worth something and we’ve been disappointed,” said Bruce Whitaker, a member of the anti-tax group Committees of Correspondence. “This looks like it’s another one of those times.”

Whitaker said the fact that Vasquez now draws attention to the elimination of perks instead of the salary reduction “seems like he is hedging on his position.”

Citing the need to lead by example, Vasquez and Stanton vowed in a joint statement in December to slash their salaries by 5%. Steiner joined them a short time later.

Because county law at the time made it impossible for elected officeholders to automatically reduce the size of their own paychecks, the supervisors declared that they would write personal checks to reimburse the county 5%.

A couple months after their announcements, only Steiner had written the checks--and those were to his charities, not the county. In following months, Vasquez said he also made two monthly reimbursement payments of about $200 each over eight months since his pledge, but he has made not further payments.

The supervisors said writing the checks was a poor way to reduce their salaries. In April, the board passed a law that allowed them and all other elected officials to voluntarily cut their pay just by signing a form.

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So far, four of 10 elected officials have cut their salaries.

Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis was the first to authorize a pay reduction, volunteering in April to give up 7.5% of his annual $104,582 salary. Stanton signed the paperwork making his 5% reduction effective in May. Clerk-Recorder Gary L. Granville cut his $83,075 salary by 5% effective in June. Steiner made his 10% reduction effective this month, but said he has been making monthly contributions.