HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Administrator, Others Given Raises

After approving a $10,000 salary bonus for City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga this week, the City Council quelled a mild controversy by extending proportionally similar pay raises to most other city employees.

Council members unanimously approved a three-year contract with two city employee groups, agreeing to increase their salaries by 19.5% by December, 1993. The package includes immediate pay hikes of 8.5%, roughly equivalent to the bonus Uberuaga was awarded on top of his $118,285 salary.

Some residents had questioned whether the city, in the throes of a deficit estimated at nearly $4 million, should give Uberuaga the additional pay.

But Mayor Peter M. Green and his council colleagues argued strongly that Uberuaga deserved the performance bonus--for which he is eligible under a clause in his contract--regardless of the city’s financial straits.

Council members rated Uberuaga as outstanding in each of the 57 areas in which he was evaluated, Green said. Additionally, Green noted that Uberuaga’s salary, including the bonus, makes him the fourth-highest-paid city administrator in Orange County. Huntington Beach is the county’s third largest city in both area and population.

The council doused any lingering opposition to Uberuaga’s stipend by agreeing to similar one-year raises for nearly all other city employees.

The agreement was reached with both the Municipal Employees Assn.--which represents about 600 of the city’s 1,100 employees--and 40 non-union employees, including department managers and other high-ranking workers. The pact provides the 8.5% pay raise retroactive to Jan. 1.

Including the new raises, union employees’ annual salaries range from up to $19,968 for seniors center outreach workers to up to $64,692 for the city’s communications administrator.

The city previously approved 8.5% raises for police officers and firefighters this year, so nearly every city employee is receiving a similar pay increase, said Robert Franz, deputy city administrator for administrative services.

The package approved for the Municipal Employees Assn. and non-union employees also provides a 5% raise next year and a 6% increase in 1993. Over the three-year contract term, the city will save 1.9% of the increased salary costs by reducing employee benefits.

If the city’s current budget crunch continues, as officials project, future employee raises may be further offset by laying off temporary employes and cutting such operational costs as training, travel and contractual services, Franz said.