Laguna council approves pay raises for itself and 3 other city panels

Laguna Beach City Council members voted Tuesday to give pay raises to themselves and members of three other city panels.

On a 3-2 vote, with Councilmen Rob Zur Schmiede and Bob Whalen dissenting, the council approved an option that effectively will raise each council member’s monthly compensation from $826 to $908, or nearly 10%, the maximum allowed under state law.

The council pay boost will go into effect Dec. 4. The council last gave itself a raise in December 2016.

The vote also approved increases for members of the Arts Commission, Planning Commission and Design Review Board.

Effective on Sunday, arts commissioners will receive $137 a month, up from $125, and planning commissioners and Design Review Board members will be paid $392 monthly, up from $357.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman said she suggested the raises for everyone.

She called the annual cost of all the panelists’ compensation — $120,900, which factors in the increases — a “very, very, very tiny piece” of the city’s roughly $100-million budget.

City officials said the increases are already allocated in the budget and do not need additional appropriations.

Iseman said the council members’ time commitment goes beyond their public meetings.

“What you see here is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the hours that go into what happens here,” she said. “I think it’s a reasonable request and it’s symbolic.”

Zur Schmiede disagreed with the council giving itself a raise, though he supported the idea of giving the other panelists more money.

Whalen said he would have supported an increase that kept the council in line with city employee pay raises. At $904 a month, that would have been slightly less than the approved amount.

Resident Michael Morris said the council shouldn’t be giving itself more money while asking residents this fall to approve a tax to pay for placing utilities underground along Laguna Canyon Road.

The council’s pay raise will require a second vote before adoption.

Bradley Zint is a contributor to Times Community News.