600 County Administrators Will Receive Pay Raises

About 600 county managers next week will begin receiving pay increases--a few as high as 14%--as Orange County makes good on raises that were promised just before the December 1994 bankruptcy.

The managers will also receive retroactive pay totaling $2.1 million to cover the 18 months the county withheld the raises. Nearly 16,000 union workers will get retroactive pay totaling $22 million.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court and county attorneys concluded that Orange County had an obligation to honor the raises promised to both employees and managers, who are considered bankruptcy creditors along with the holders of county notes and bonds, and vendors who were owed money for goods and services.

With its emergence from bankruptcy last month, the county is required to pay what it owes to all creditors, including fired employees like former assistant treasurer Matthew Raabe, who faces felony charges related to the bankruptcy.

Raabe is set to receive $911 in retroactive pay to cover the three months between his termination and the day the raises took effect.

Employees who were laid off or took early retirement because of the bankruptcy might also be due some retroactive pay.

“This is the final step as far as these bankruptcy obligations with the employees,” said Jan Walden, assistant chief executive officer for human resources.

Although the vast majority of managers will receive modest merit increases of less than 5%, about a dozen will receive more generous raises.

These managers, who work mostly in the district attorney’s office, Social Services Agency and Health Care Agency, will receive “equity pay” increases designed to bring their salaries into balance with others in their field.

The county’s Human Resources Department said equity pay raises were granted in cases when managers made less than counterparts doing the same job elsewhere or when subordinates in their own offices earned as much as they did.

Four assistant district attorneys--John D. Conley, Jan Nolan, Brent F. Romney and Wallace J. Wade--will earn equity pay increases, boosting their pay as high as $116,688.

Nolan, for example, will see her salary jump from $102,440 to $116,688. In addition, she will receive $21,920 in retroactive back pay to make up for the 18 months she did not receive the raise.

Officials cautioned that employees will only receive about half of their retroactive pay in cash, with the remainder used to cover taxes and other charges.

When the issue surfaced in May, several supervisors expressed doubts about granting such hefty raises to the four prosecutors while county finances remain so tight. But the board did reluctantly agree to grant the equity raises to all recipients after county attorneys said it was legally obligated to do so.

Several top Social Services Agency officials also received equity increases, including Angelo Doti, the financial assistance director, and Dianne Edwards, the director of Adult and Employment Services.

Doti’s salary will go from $85,404 to $93,912. Edwards salary would have gone from $82,201 to $90,396, but she recently announced plans to leave the county for a social service post in Sonoma County. Both Doti and Edwards will receive gross retroactive pay of more than $12,000.

At the Health Care Agency, medical division manager G.A. Wagner will receive a salary increase from $106,204 to $112,049 while medical program director Ernest R. Williams will see his pay jump from $118,372 to $124,300.

Some managers who received pay increases actually saw their salaries decline because they were transferred to less senior positions with the bankruptcy cutbacks. Others received salary increases beyond their merit raises because they were promoted.

While the manager merit raises varied in size, union workers will receive a flat 2.5% salary increase.