PORT HUENEME : Council Takes Step to Raise Its Pay 10%

The Port Hueneme City Council took the first step Wednesday to give itself a 10% pay hike to $379.50 a month for each council member.

However, the council postponed final action on the pay raise until next month. If approved as expected, the cost-of-living increase will go into effect in December after the November election.

All council members receive the same salary.

Under state law, a city council may increase the salaries of members by 5% per year, with at least two years between increases, City Finance Director Jim Hanks said.

The council’s last salary increase was in 1988.

In other action, the council approved a 5.8% cost-of-living increase in a new contract for 52 city employees, effective June 27. The increase does not apply to department managers and those who work for the Police Department.

Last year, the same group of employees received a 4.9% salary increase and a slight increase in benefits, Hanks said. This year’s hike is equivalent to last year’s combined increase in salary and benefits, Hanks said.

In an unrelated action, the council passed a resolution giving city employees first option on upcoming vacancies in a city-owned apartment complex.

Beginning today, city employees will be eligible for preferential treatment when applying for low-cost units in the city-owned Seaview complex.

“If we have a vacancy, then we will house them first,” Hanks said.

Although none of the 90 Seaview units is vacant, some will be in the near future, he said.

To be eligible for special treatment, employees must pay more than 30% of their salaries in rent.

The city will rank eligible employees by an income-to-rent ratio and how soon they file applications.

The council passed the resolution in recognition that the city does not pay salaries adequate to meet the area’s high rents, Hanks said.

The policy will allow the city to provide for its employees without increasing salaries.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the City Council allocated $14,000 for a public opinion survey to help the city decide which programs to cut to balance the budget.

The survey, to be performed in the next two months by Market Opinion Research of Washington, will help determine which programs should be spared and what would be the least painful method of raising revenue.

The survey should keep the council’s priorities in tune with those of residents, City Manager John Velthoen said.

Although he said the city was in good shape financially, in the next couple of years it will have to either trim services or raise taxes.

“The status quo is going to be hard to maintain if we don’t find some new revenue sources,” Velthoen said.

The City Council also allocated $39,000 to have a consultant design a replacement section of the Hueneme Pier.

The first 450 feet of the 1,300-foot-long pier has dry rot and needs to be replaced, city officials said. The city estimates that it will cost $575,000 to replace the section, which is more than 50 years old.

Public Works Director Jack Duffy said that the pier poses no threat to public safety and that the city is still 10 years away from having to close it.

The state Wildlife Conservation Fund has given the city a $200,000 grant to help pay for the project. The remaining $375,000 will come from the city’s general fund.

Noble Consultants of Irvine is expected to present the design to the council by early fall.