Council to consider series of pay hikes

Deirdre Newman

The City Council tonight will consider increasing the salaries of

city employees so they match the average salaries in neighboring

cities within three years.

Among the top proposed increases for the first year are about 8.8%

for the fire chief, about 6.9% for senior lifeguards and 6.4% for

firefighters.

The jumps should make the city more competitive in hiring and help

keep good employees from leaving, officials said.

Salaries have dropped behind other cities because of numerous

budget issues, such as the state taking away local revenue. The goal

of the increases is to enhance the city’s ability to recruit and to

keep high-caliber candidates, Mayor Gary Monahan said.

“I think it sends a message that the city is willing to compete

for the best available prospects in the marketplace,” Monahan said.

“Our fire and police departments can bring in the qualified

individuals they need to serve our city.”

The salary increases would cost the city about $3.3 million the

first year. The city is able to afford them because its revenue is

higher than projected, and its expenses are lower, Monahan added.

The council will also consider increasing its own salary, but the

change wouldn’t take effect until the winners of the 2006 council

race are on the dais. The council can increase its salary up to 15%

-- 5% for each year since the last increase in 2002.

Council members take home $828 a month, Monahan said.

By the third year of the increases, the employees will be at the

average of workers in neighboring cities, including Newport Beach,

Irvine and Huntington Beach.

Hitting the area’s average wage should help keep good employees,

Deputy Fire Chief Gregg Steward said.

“It seems like many of the firefighters have two or three

different places that are trying to recruit them at the same time,”

Steward said. “So, this can potentially help us not lose people to

other cities, because our pay may not fall too far behind.”

After a few months of negotiations, agreements have been reached

between the city and the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn., the Costa

Mesa City Employees Assn., the Costa Mesa Police Management Assn. and

the Costa Mesa Police Assn.

The city’s employees have been extremely patient in waiting out

the city’s tough economic times, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

“It hasn’t been a case of, ‘Well, we don’t care about these

things; we just want ours, and the market has gone up, and we

haven’t,’” Roeder said. “I appreciate them having a broader

perspective than just keeping up with the Joneses.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (714)

966-4623 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.