The OC Register published an interesting article today examining the salaries of our OC Supervisors. I was shocked to find out that they make $200,703.30, when you include all the stipends they receive. Wow! These guys are terribly overpaid.
It turns out that their pay is pegged to the salary offered to OC municipal judges, who are now superior court judges. What? That is not right.
I would prefer to see the Supervisors paid half of what they are making. If they don’t like that – they can stay in the private sector!
This ought to be put on the ballot. Supervisor Chris Norby was quoted as saying “The ultimate job evaluation is done every four years by the electorate.” Maybe – but we ought to evaluate their salaries too.
How about paying the OC Supervisors no more than twice what the lowest paid OC worker makes? That sounds good to me. Public service is exactly that – you shouldn’t line your wallet while serving the public.
Now I understand why so many people want to run for Lou Correa’s seat on the OC Board of Supervisors. Talk about a big raise for Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante, who currently is a low-level middle manager at the county. It would be a gross injustice to triple his salary in this fashion. Let him earn it the way the rest of us have to!
Most Board members tend to see themselves as the true CEO’s of the county and chafe if any person on the county work force is paid more than they are. Rightly or wrongly, this is the reality. Still does not justify the millions spent to capture a seat though (recent 5th District race)
If you think that’s a lot, check out the salary that Raghu Mathur gets in South Orange Community College District! Recently Tom Fuentes voted to increase it! Mathur is the highest paid chancellor in the state! We’re so proud!
http://www.dissenttheblog.blogspot.com
Art.
I hope my earlier post on the city of Vernon city administrator and the city manager of Newport Beach’s wages did not trigger today’s O.C. Register follow-up.
The problem is that cities benchmark themselves against other cities which can lead to a scenario where “you increase your compensation so that we can follow suit and let the taxpayer pick up the increase.
Serving on the Board of Supervisors of a County with three million residents is an important post. How should, or how can, we make any comparison of the BOS duties and responsibilities to that of the Governor or the Superintendent of public instruction when we think of compensation. Although wages and benefits should not track the private sector, perhaps we need to recognize the cost of living in Orange County.
I thought that the county manager/CEO did all the work. Why do the supervisor get any kind of salary? Pay them a couple hundred per meeting like most city coucils and be done with it.