O.C. Wary of Easing Salary Caps

Orange County supervisors balked this week at a request to increase salary ranges for government managers that could have allowed some executives’ pay to reach nearly $250,000 a year.

The higher pay ranges could affect more than 1,000 supervising employees.

None of the managers are making anywhere near that now, officials said. Still, three supervisors blanched at raising pay ceilings 10% for administrators, 20% for executive managers and 23% for law enforcement brass. Aides to supervisors would see a 6% increase in maximum pay.

The more generous salary-range plan was proposed by the county’s human resources department to help the county recruit and retain top-drawer managers.

If approved, about 45 people would get an immediate pay bump, at a cost of about $150,000 more a year.

The highest-paid employees would include deputy chief executive officers, deputy chief financial officers and department heads.

Supervisors Bill Campbell, Chris Norby and Chuck Smith said they should have been briefed on the proposal, which was included in their agenda packets.

“It raises a question of how did we get to these numbers,” Campbell said after Smith declared he wouldn’t vote for the higher rates because they hadn’t been justified.

Action on the new pay ranges was postponed until Dec. 7.

The rates were negotiated with the Orange County Managers Assn. from a compensation plan that was approved by the board in February, but which lacked salary specifics.

Department heads, who would qualify for the new salaries, backed the proposal because it would give them greater flexibility to woo people from private jobs to fill county posts.

The biggest surge in salary potential would go to Sheriff’s Department managers, whose upper pay limit would jump from about $120,000 a year to nearly $150,000. The spread is needed, officials argued, to maintain an “appropriate” salary distance between bosses and subordinates.

All management employees will receive an additional 2% salary bonus in January if they meet certain job-performance expectations.

The bonus program, approved by supervisors, is expected to cost $1.8 million.

Supervisors agreed to some salary adjustments Tuesday -- consolidating 12 pay ranges into one, with 132 administration classifications reduced to three.

Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach, who has criticized supervisors for over-sweetening pensions, said he was briefed on the new management classifications and guidelines this month -- but said that, at the time, there was no salary chart.

“Why would you have to have such high salaries when you’ve got such attractive pension benefits?” Moorlach said. The retirement perks “far outweigh what private companies are offering, so you don’t have to make [salary] concessions. You have to balance it out.”

Moorlach said he agreed with the goal of giving department heads more flexibility, particularly in keeping qualified people from moving to another county department. That can be accomplished by streamlining classifications across government, he said.

“The problem you face is that some of the bigger departments can steal an employee from a smaller department,” he said.

Because of the pension boost, the county will see a flood of retirements on July 1, he said, and departments will be looking to poach workers from other departments.

The request to expand salary ranges comes on the heels of pension bonuses granted in August, allowing employees to retire at 55 instead of 62 while keeping more of their pay.

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Top bureaucrat salaries

Salaries for the highest-paid county executives could jump 20% -- to nearly $250,000 a year -- if proposed pay ranges are approved.

Current and proposed top salaries for county employees

*--* No. of Current Proposed Percent Title jobs pay pay increase Administrative management 859 $176,405 $193,440 10% Executive management 97 $206,523 $247,520 20 Law enforcement management 73 $119,579 $147,680 23 Executive aide/ executive assistant 33 $116,189 $122,720 6

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Source: Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby. Graphics reporting by Jean O. Pasco