The Board of Supervisors will vote today whether to approve a 3
percent raise for the county’s department heads
– a move that would trigger the same increase for elected
officials.
If approved, the 15 county department heads will receive a 3
percent cost of living adjustment that will cost the county an
additional $40,000 per year and go into effect Jan. 1.
Hollister – The Board of Supervisors will vote today whether to approve a 3 percent raise for the county’s department heads – a move that would trigger the same increase for elected officials.
If approved, the 15 county department heads will receive a 3 percent cost of living adjustment that will cost the county an additional $40,000 per year and go into effect Jan. 1. County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson said the 3 percent COLA was the result of several weeks of negotiations between her and department head representatives.
The 3 percent pay raise would bring department heads in line with other county workers who received a 3 percent COLA in October, according to Board Chair Reb Monaco.
“Basically, it’s what we did for all employees in the county,” he said. “It’s just remaining consistent.”
If the board OKs the 3 percent pay increase for department heads, elected officials – including county supervisors – will receive the same increase in accordance with a 2002 ordinance which states that elected officials must receive the same pay raises as department heads and at the same time.
The pay raises will range from an increase of about $50 a month for Marshal Robert Scattini – who makes less than $20,000 per year – to increases of about $300 a month for District Attorney John Sarsfield, Sheriff Curtis Hill and Clerk-Auditor-Recorder John Hodges – all who make more than $100,000 annually.
Like Monaco, Hodges said the 3 percent COLA for department heads is consistent with the raise county workers got earlier this year.
“Whatever’s good for one is good for all,” he said. “It’s just keeping up with inflation.”
County supervisors will each receive a pay raise of just over $100 a month, bringing their individual monthly salaries up to $3,729. That increase is in addition to compensation for gas mileage to and from board meetings and a $100 a month car allowance.
In March, supervisors approved a 3 percent pay raise for department heads and elected officials that was effective retroactively as of Dec. 1, 2004. That was the first pay increase that department heads had received in two years.
County workers also got a raise this year. In October, after months of negotiations between the county and the union representing its workers, the county agreed to amend the contract between the workers and the county – giving workers a 3 percent raise this year.
The three-year contract gave county employees a 3 percent wage increase in the first year of the contract and a 1 percent increase each year for the two remaining years. Under the amended version, employees will receive a 3 percent increase this year as they did last year, but no increase in 2006. The agreement also precludes further wage increase discussions for the remainder of the contract, which ends September 2007.
The worker’s 3 percent increase will cost the county about $285,000 this year.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected].
