[Andy Nevis, President, Taxpayers Association of El Dorado County, RE: February 4 Agenda Item 9 – Board of Supervisor and Unrepresented Employee Raises]
The Taxpayers Association of El Dorado County offers the following comments on Agenda Item 9, salary increases for non-represented employees and potential salary increases for the Board of Supervisors.
Topics 1 – 3: Salary Increases for Unrepresented Employees
We take no formal position on these raises as we understand that the proposed raises for unrepresented employees are generally in line with the county’s compensation philosophy and the raises negotiated with represented employees. Nevertheless, we must observe that the compensation packages in many cases will appear excessive to taxpayers who do not enjoy such extensive benefits, and they will weaken the county’s fiscal position going forward. The county will face difficult decisions regarding salaries and benefits as the current pace of growth is unsustainable.
Topic 4 – Discussion of Potential Salary Increase for Board of Supervisors
While we understand this item is being brought for discussion only, we strongly oppose any increase to Board of Supervisors salaries at this time. Any such increase would not be justified by your compensation philosophy.
Given that all of the comparison counties have five supervisors and supervisor workload is driven in part by the number of constituents represented, compensation can also be compared on a per-capita basis. As reported in the staff report, in absolute terms El Dorado County supervisor compensation is 9.42% below the market median. When the per-capita factor is applied (see bottom of this memorandum) it is 11.17% above the median.
A Board of Supervisors pay increase would have ramifications beyond the direct cost of the increase. It would signal to employees that the Board isn’t willing to adhere to the compensation policy it has pursued for most other employees, reducing morale and encouraging future requests for raises.
As CAO Ashton noted in his introduction to the
2019-20 recommended budget:
“…the county simply cannot afford to pay salaries consistent with the compensation philosophy, maintain our building infrastructure and maintain existing services. Therefore, I am recommending the Board direct staff to begin planning for potential service level reductions beginning in FY 2020-21 so that there can be sufficient opportunity for Board discussions and community engagement prior to the FY 2020-21 recommended budget.”
While we have tremendous respect for the hard work you each put into representing your communities, a vote to raise your own salaries would poison these difficult upcoming discussions.
1 See attachment J to this item
2 California Department of Finance Estimates, May 2019
