CAMARILLO : City Gives Final OK to Pay Raise

A divided Camarillo City Council has given final approval to a 1.6% average salary boost for city workers, an increase that earlier this year sparked protests from a residents group.

The council voted 3 to 2 Wednesday in favor of the pay raise, which it had tentatively approved in April on the condition that state budget cuts for the 1993-94 fiscal year would not devastate the city’s budget.

Seeing that the budget recently adopted by the state Legislature will have little effect on Camarillo’s finances, Mayor Charlotte Craven and council members Stanley J. Daily and Michael Morgan on Wednesday approved implementing the pay raise effective from July 1.

Councilmen Ken Gose and David Smith, who have opposed the salary increase, voted against the pay raise again Wednesday.

Gose and Smith have said the city should not raise workers’ wages in a year when many Camarillo residents are suffering from the poor economy.

“This is a year to have a freeze on salaries,” Smith said Thursday.

When the council considered the salary increase earlier this year, a group of about 20 residents led by attorney Kevin Staker protested the pay raise, saying city workers were already overpaid. No protesters attended Wednesday’s meeting.

The pay raises, which will cost the city $68,000 this fiscal year, are designed to keep Camarillo workers’ salaries 5% above the median of similar-sized California cities.

Of Camarillo’s approximately 100 employees, 22 will not receive any salary increase; 17 will get a 0.5% increase; 62 will get raises of 1% to 4%, and 11 will see a 4% to 6% wage hike.