Friday, July 15, 2011

(San Ramon) City Council Defends Its Compensation

City Council on Tuesday talked about how to respond to a grand jury report that suggested San Ramon reconsider how much it pays elected officials.

By James T. Ott and Jennifer Wadsworth

July 13, 2011

The mayor says he's sick of talking about it.

But it keeps coming up and likely will remain an issue as we approach the Nov. 8 City Council election: Does San Ramon overpay its elected leaders?

The five council members in question don't think so.

But a Contra Costa County Grand Jury study found that the $163,190 San Ramon pays its elected leaders annually is more than twice the average of 19 nearby cities. That includes health care, pension, car allowance and other compensation.

The report suggests that San Ramon consider reducing that amount in light of the troubled economy and to bring it closer in line with what other cities pay.

The grand jury also questions whether it's justifiable to give council members health-care and pension benefits in the first place.

Mayor H. Abram Wilson and council members on Tuesday discussed how to respond to those findings. Basically, the council disagrees with the grand jury's conclusions. All of them.

So they voted unanimously to send a letter — signed by Wilson — to convey that message. And to say that the entire study was done wrong.

The letter says the grand jury was wrong to compare San Ramon's city council pay to other cities. As long as the city complies with state law – which it does – the only other context should be what predecessors on the council made, the mayor says.

Plus, the grand jury didn't consider differences in the way each city is managed, the letter continues. San Ramon is well-run, boasts an AAA credit rating, headquarters some of the biggest corporations in the nation and isn't as financially bad off as other cities in the region, the letter notes.

If anything, given the amount of work they put in, San Ramon's elected leaders are underpaid, Wilson said. It's a sentiment echoed by Councilman Dave Hudson and some other council members.

Each council member makes just over $15,500 in gross wages and an additional $800 in pension contributions, according to the city's 2010 salary report. And the mayor took home a $17,800 salary plus $900 in pension benefits last year.

What's unknown is how much the city shells out for their health-care costs because the city refuses to disclose that, citing patient privacy laws.

"My wife wants to know who in their right mind would do what we do for what we get paid," Wilson said. "When we know we're doing something correctly, we stand up for our rights. And that's what we're doing."

http://sanramon.patch.com/articles/city-council-defends-its-own-compensation

No comments: