Silva Raises a New Approach to Pay Scale

SANTA ANA — County supervisors are paid a salary of $82,100 a year, if you don’t count the $3,500 in “management benefits” that each official can use every year to cover professional conferences and membership costs, pay medical bills or simply receive in cash.

Or the $4,800-a-year car allowance to which each supervisor is entitled. Or the $10,000 to $13,000 they get in stipends for attending transportation and sanitation board meetings.

The complicated method for determining the total compensation of county leaders has long frustrated community activists. But change could be coming.

Supervisor Jim Silva is suggesting that the Board of Supervisors tie members’ pay to the salaries of a state official, perhaps a judge. Supervisors’ salaries would then rise or fall with that of the official, whose compensation is set by the state Legislature.

Silva said board pay could be linked to that of a Superior Court judge--paid $107,000 a year--or even to a lower-paid official.

The change could result in higher pay, but Silva insists that his main goal is to “depoliticize” the process by preventing supervisors from setting their own salaries. He also wants to eliminate the need for extra stipends and perks.

“This would establish a set salary that is clearly understood by everyone and decided by someone else,” Silva said. “It takes the politics out of it.”

Los Angeles County already links supervisor salaries to that of Superior Court judges. Other counties, including Ventura, pay supervisors 65% of what a judge makes.

Orange County supervisors haven’t received a raise in six years. In 1991, they voted to increase their salaries to $85,000 but rescinded the raises a week later after loud public protests.

Between 1985 and 1990, however, supervisors’ salaries soared from $45,612 to $82,100, becoming the second-highest in California behind Los Angeles County, which pays $107,000.

Silva and others said the county should examine the compensation of elected officials, noting that more than 300 county employees earn higher salaries than the supervisors.

“I look at some of the salaries in the county and cities and consider the time and commitments [supervisors] put into this job,” he said. “It does seem a little lopsided.”

Board Chairman William G. Steiner said he is undecided about the need for higher pay but is willing to study Silva’s ideas for an independent salary-setting system.

“It’s one way of addressing what has always been a political hot potato,” Steiner said.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer also expressed interest in the concept, especially if it would address the “backdoor” stipends and perks that he has criticized.

Spitzer is the only supervisor who does not collect stipends for the time he spends on the Orange County Transportation Authority, Transportation Corridor Agencies and other government bodies.

“We need to be upfront about it . . . and examine the whole issue of salaries,” Spitzer said. “I think one reason we have these allowances and stipends is because supervisors are afraid of the public criticism for taking the salary they feel they deserve.”

Spitzer, who took office earlier this month, said it is too early for him to determine whether supervisors deserve more pay but added that he is satisfied with his compensation.

“I don’t think we can ask to have a salary increase until we have regained the public’s confidence,” he added. “We have to show the public that we are making a difference. Until we have public opinion on our side, I can’t ask for a salary increase.”

Community activist Bill Ward, a member of the anti-tax group Committees of Correspondence, agrees that performance and public opinion should be central in determining whether supervisors received pay increases.

“To me, the actual pay is not as major an issue as the kind of job they do,” Ward said. “I’m afraid that linking this to the judges’ salaries takes the debate out of the public realm. We need to have a public debate.”

Supervisor salaries have always been an emotional issue. After the December 1994 bankruptcy, Ward and other activists demanded that supervisors and other top county officials slash their pay as a symbolic gesture. Some did take a 5% cut but started collecting full salaries again last year.

Silva said another reason for studying the compensation issue is to determine whether current salaries are in line with the duties supervisors perform.

“I know that some supervisors have had part-time jobs, but I feel strongly that this needs to be a full-time job,” Silva said. “I would hate to see supervisors having to supplement their income.”

Over the years, supervisors have frequently tended to outside activities. Don Saltarelli continued to help run a real estate business during his stint on the board, while Roger R. Stanton and Gaddi H. Vasquez taught college courses.

Steiner volunteers on the boards of several child-abuse prevention groups including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He also does some paid consulting for children’s services organizations and teaches a college class on child abuse.

Steiner agreed with Silva that supervisors must devote large amounts of time both dealing with county business and attending community events. But he said he is able to balance those duties with his work in children’s services.

“I’ve always been involved in these activities and I love to teach,” Steiner added. “It makes for a busy life. But it hasn’t detracted at all from my work at the county.”

He noted that his connections with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped secure two computerized kiosks used at John Wayne Airport to help locate missing children.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

(A) Higher Salaries?

Supervisor Jim Silva suggests that county supervisor pay be tied to that of a state official, perhaps a judge. The supervisors have not received a raise since 1990 after their base salary jumped substantially in the late 1980s. How base pay increased, not including stipends and benefits:

1985: $45,600

1987: $61,000

1988: $65,900

1989: $75,300

1990: $82,100*

* Board approved pay hike to $85,000 in 1991 but rescinded it a week later

And here is how base salaries of Orange County supervisors compare with counterparts in other California counties:

Los Angeles: $107,900

Orange: $82,100

Santa Clara: $78,500

San Diego: $75,900

San Bernardino: $68,500

Ventura: $64,500

See story, Page B1

Sources: Times reports, California State Assn. of Counties

Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times