BURBANK : City Attorney Refuses to Accept Pay Raise

Burbank City Atty. Joseph Fletcher has turned down a pay raise guaranteed by his contract.

Fletcher was the only city employee due for a pay raise this year. The pay of all other employee groups, including department heads and managers, has been frozen as the city tries to grapple with a budget shortfall.

Fletcher, who makes $110,000 a year, did not return a phone call to his office Tuesday, but Juli Scott, his top aide, said his action was “to be consistent with all the other employee groups and management employees.”

His raise was due after a recently completed performance review, but the amount that he would have received in a raise is not known.

“He is the only executive manager who had been previously promised an increase by the council, and he turned it down,” Assistant City Manager Stephen Helvey said.

His salary is based on an average of the salary for city attorneys for five cities comparable to Burbank in population and services provided. Fletcher’s 1991-92 salary, which he is asking remain in place, was 96% of the average salary in that year, Helvey said.

A new survey of the five cities, Glendale, Pasadena, Torrance, Santa Monica and Inglewood, has not been conducted, Helvey said. But Fletcher’s new salary would have been at 98% of the new average, which was expected to be higher this year, Helvey said.

In July, the City Council approved contracts for union employees that included a one-year salary freeze in exchange for a promise not to lay off any of the 1,200 employees. In November, the City Council turned down an opportunity to increase the monthly pay for council members from $803 to $843 because of the salary freeze employees were enduring.

Whether Fletcher gets a raise next year is up to the council to decide, Helvey said. Fletcher has been city attorney since February, 1990.