Huntington Beach City Council approves raise for City Atty. Michael Gates

On a closely split, 4-3 vote, the Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday approved a raise for City Atty. Michael Gates, with some decrying the decision and others saying it was earned for a job well done.

Gates’ pay will rise from $117.63 to $140 per hour, retroactive to July 1 of this year. This will boost the city attorney’s salary to a total of about $291,000 this year and it will increase by 3% in subsequent years.

Gates had last received a raise in May of 2019.

Mayor Tony Strickland, Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon and Pat Burns voted in favor of the raise on Tuesday night, while Councilmembers Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton were opposed.

“All we’re doing is taking Mr. Gates, who has been an incredibly successful city attorney, and putting him back to where he would have been had council not ignored him since 2019,” Strickland said. “I would call this a cost of living adjustment since 2019.”

A report prepared by Assistant City Atty. Mike Vigliotta noted Gates does not automatically progress up a pay scale, nor does the position receive automatic raises over time.

“I would just like to emphasize for the public, this is not an easy job,” Gates said. “It’s very, very stressful, it’s very, very trying ... and I don’t operate simply as a figurehead where I collect a paycheck. I roll up my sleeves and I do the work myself.”

Gates’ name in some ways has become a rallying cry for residents, largely conservatives, who show up to the City Council meetings. He was easily reelected for a third term in November, and he campaigned with four fellow conservatives who each won election to the dais.

The shift to the right on the City Council likely will mark a change in the relationship with Gates, who clashed often with the previous council.

Some, however, have voiced concerns that Gates’ new salary is too much. With this raise, he would be the second-highest paid of any elected city attorney in the state of California, including the city attorney of Los Angeles. Only the city attorney of Long Beach, a city that has more than twice the population of Huntington Beach, earns more.

Gates also is the second-highest paid Huntington Beach city employee, behind only City Manager Al Zelinka, who makes $320,000 a year.

Kalmick noted that by the end of a three-year period, Gates would be making nearly $100,000 more per year than he was previously.

“Realistically, the six-month look back is wild,” Kalmick said, addressing Gates. “I don’t disagree that you likely need a raise; you haven’t had a raise in a while. But I’d like to see better context here ... the fire chief and police chief both manage quite a few people.”

Bolton said she could not accept the raise without a compensation study.

“We should not consider anybody’s change in pay without a compensation study,” she said. “Otherwise, the figures that we are potentially approving look like they are being pulled out of thin air.”

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