County to Look Into Pay, Benefits of Workers

Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn said Tuesday that he will form a committee to examine the salaries and cash benefits paid to county workers after a Times survey found that dozens of individuals were making tens of thousands of dollars a year in extra income.

“We need to bring some controls to these things,” Flynn said. “I think some of it has gotten out of hand. It’s embarrassing.”

After meeting in closed session with Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester and Supervisor Frank Schillo, Flynn said all agreed to form a committee to review compensation of managers and employees.

Flynn said it is too early to give any specifics about the committee or the scope of the examination, but that he hoped that some cost-cutting proposals could be brought to the board within the next month.

Facing a projected $19-million deficit and continuing reductions in services, the county must make every effort to rein in overhead costs, the supervisor said.

“We can’t find money for our libraries,” Flynn said. “We can’t go on with benefits like this.”

A recent income survey by The Times found that 326 county managers and employees made more than $80,000 each in 1995, with the majority supplementing their incomes with tens of thousands of dollars in overtime and special cash benefits.

Flynn said he was disturbed by the amount of overtime racked up by the fire and sheriff’s departments, which spent a combined $15 million on overtime last year.

The Fire Department, whose financial operations were the subject of a scathing audit three years ago, spent $8.5 million out of a nearly $50-million budget.

“They’re out of control,” Flynn said. “We thought we were getting ahold of the problem, but it appears like it’s still there.”

Fire Chief James Sewell has attributed much of the overtime to staffers filling in vacant positions and to a flooding disaster that occurred in early 1995.

He said the department has adopted new policies that should reduce overtime payments to about $6.7 million this year.

Flynn said he also wants to take a hard look at vacation buybacks, educational pay, longevity bonuses, car allowances, committee membership fees and other cash benefits paid to some employees.

Dozens of managers and employees last year were able to boost their salaries--in some cases by $20,000 or more--through such financial benefits, according to payroll data obtained by The Times.

Flynn acknowledged that it can be difficult to impose salary and benefit reforms.

In 1993, he and former Supervisor Maria VanderKolk proposed reducing the pay of most county workers by 5% and slashing many of their fringe benefits.

But their proposal was eventually shot down after hundreds of workers expressed their outrage to the board.

“We tried to do something about the issue,” he said, “but we were blown out of the water.”

SALARY ADJUSTMENT

Prosecutors and defenders want pay parity with the county counsel’s office. B5