Housing Authority Panel Suggests Doubling Pay

Under fire for their spending practices, board members for the Ventura County Area Housing Authority went ahead Wednesday and recommended doubling their maximum monthly pay, but also advocated greater scrutiny of board expenses in light of recent questions about costs.

The board’s executive committee voted 4 to 1 to recommend to the full board that the stipend go from a maximum of $100 to $200 a month, the highest amount allowed by state law.

To achieve the maximum, board member pay would increase from $25 to $50 for attending committee meetings, while pay for general board meetings would remain at $50.

The full board of commissioners--responsible for setting policy for the Housing Authority, which administers federal housing programs and helps shelter the poor from Thousand Oaks to Ojai--is expected to consider the pay hike next month.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” said board member Herbert E. Morrison, chairman of the building committee and who has represented Moorpark on the board since last summer. “I’m not looking for income here. The amount is so tiny, so small, I didn’t think it made too much of a difference.”

But fellow commissioner Otto Stoll, chairman of the board’s finance committee, voted against that recommendation, saying he would not support a pay raise under any circumstances.

“I find the whole business of getting paid for this stuff distasteful,” he said. “I’ve said all along that the increase is unnecessary and embarrassing, and it’s turned out to be both.”

Board members have come under fire because of a vote to double their pay and a new policy of buying meals for themselves at general meetings, including a catered lasagna dinner last month that cost about $210.

In addition, records showed that board member Sharon Pfeifer, appointed to the 15-member panel in April to represent Camarillo, had been reimbursed $290 she paid her husband to watch their children while she attended board meetings.

Housing Authority officials said Pfeifer put in for reimbursement only after clearing it with the federal department of Housing and Urban Development.

But HUD officials say while child-care expenses can be reimbursed, there is some question as to whether a spouse can provide those baby-sitting services.

Moreover, HUD officials have asked about other spending practices, specifically the Housing Authority’s source of payment for board member stipends. Housing Authority officials say those stipends have been paid with federal money, an apparent violation of HUD rules.

In an effort to more closely monitor the board’s finances, the executive committee on Wednesday recommended that all extraordinary expenses--above monthly stipends and mileage--be reviewed by the group’s finance committee.

Committee members also set out a series of issues to tackle at a January retreat, including a review of the current practice of reimbursing board members for attending committee meetings, even if they are not members of the committee.

“There’s a lot of sorting out we have to do,” said board member Anthony Bellasalma, who represents Moorpark. “That’s been part of the problem.”

The area Housing Authority, which has an annual budget of about $23 million, owns and manages 350 units of public housing throughout the county, while administering a federal rent subsidy program that encompasses 2,800 units.

A survey conducted earlier this year showed that the Ventura County board was among the largest in the state, and that board members were among the highest paid because they held more meetings than other boards.