Pay Cut Plan Is Defeated in Lynwood

Lynwood City Council members, among the highest paid part-time politicians in the state, at a late meeting Tuesday night backed off from a proposal that would have slashed their compensation by nearly half.

Instead, the three-member council majority approved a measure that will keep their compensation at about $40,000 a year, which still is higher than many cities in the area, including Long Beach, the state’s fifth-largest city, where council members receive about $26,000 annually.

Lynwood council members have monthly salaries of $804 that, by state law, can be raised only to reflect cost-of-living adjustments. However, the members also sit on two city agencies -- Lynwood Information Inc. and the Lynwood Finance Authority -- which pay $450 per meeting.

In September, The Times reported that the system allowed some members to earn as much as $10,000 per month by calling as many as 10 “special” meetings of each agency. Lynwood, which is in southeast Los Angeles County, has an annual per capita income of less than $10,000.

Without calling special meetings, council members earn more than $21,000 per year for twice-a-month meetings that usually last only a few minutes each. Combined with the city’s $6,000 per year auto allowance and other income, council members’ base compensation is $40,845.

Tuesday’s vote came after council members in recent weeks had considered a proposal pushed by council members Ramon Rodriguez and Maria Santillan. That plan would have set council members’ annual compensation at about $24,600.

“This disappoints me very much,” said Rodriguez, who along with Santillan voted against the proposal that passed Tuesday. “Every time there’s a campaign, [candidates] run on the promises of reducing wages and cutting fraud. And once we get here we forget about it.”

Under Rodriguez and Santillan’s proposal, agency meetings would have been limited to four annually for each agency. Lynwood Information Inc. evaluates media services technology and the Lynwood Finance Authority focuses on improving the city’s financial condition. Council members Fernando Pedroza and Leticia Vasquez had, in the past, expressed support for significantly reducing compensation. Pedroza, at one point, voted for the Rodriguez plan. Vasquez, in rejecting Rodriguez’s plan, said that it wasn’t stringent enough to rein in salaries.

She countered with her own proposal that was backed by Pedroza and Mayor Louis Byrd. Though the plan eliminates special meetings, it maintains the number of meetings at the current base level of 48. The proposal also leaves intact the $450-per-meeting stipend.

Vasquez said her proposal is a “dramatic” change because it prohibits council members from boosting their pay through special meetings. However, critics say, the proposal still allows the members to collect about $20,000 per year for a few minutes of work.

“[The council] tried to fool the taxpayers by claiming they are working on cutting down the pay,” said Sal Alatorre, a community activist. “But I don’t see a big change.”

Vasquez, who campaigned against council abuses during her campaign in the fall, denied accusations that she had backed away from an earlier promise. “I stand behind my position that we made a dramatic change.”

The councilwoman said she was working on rewriting the council’s travel policy and eliminating per diems. The $100 stipend is meant to cover travel and dining costs for city-related events, but members have billed the city for attending parades, golf tournaments and political events a few miles from the city.

The council’s latest move was viewed by some Lynwood residents as a missed chance to restore integrity to the city’s reputation. “Vasquez ran her campaign on a ticket that she wanted to stop the abuse,” Alatorre said. “She just used that to get elected, and as soon as she got elected she joined the club.”