Have you been reading your newspapers or watching TV lately? We are in a recession with massive financial problems around the state. However, that does not block one or more members of the Mission Viejo City council from inquiring as to how much they could raise their monthly pay checks. Let me also point out that each council member is reimbursed for their auto mileage and attendance at various meetings they attend representing the city.
Update: The internal city of Mission Viejo document dated June 30th opens by saying: “The following information is in response to questions from several Councilmembers.
The sections of the Govt Code that address the population brackets for Councilmembers salaries as well as the 5% annual increase allowed by law are as follows: They are Gov Code sections 25616(a) and 36516 (c):”
While serving on any city council can be very time consuming and give you an ulcer, you know the wage structure before throwing your hat into the ring. Perhaps I am a dreamer but I was led to believe that you become a council candidate as one way of giving back to the community in which you live. You surely don’t do it for the money.
An inside source has shared a pending council action in which research reveals that under CA law, and based on our population, the council is “entitled” to receive a five percent per anum increase in their monthly wage. Notice my use of the word “entitled.” We are discussing five “alleged conservative” Republicans. Again, the key words being “alleged conservatives.”
Mission Viejo was incorporated on March 31, 1988. Apparently our finance department verified the max wage limit as permitted under Government Code Section 36516 A and 36516 C to justify an increase to over $1300 from the current $500 per month that every council person has received over the past 20 years to leap to the head of the wage scale in one jump. Even the cost of crude did not escalate that quickly.
I must wonder if part of the council request was triggered by Council Member MacLean who recently lost his upper staff position at UCI or Member Ury who departed Intel Corp upper management staff two years ago to form his own startup company.
To repeat. While there are cities with full time councilmembers making $100,000 per year, the thought of even requesting this wage increase, a decision that they and they alone have the power to make, is a case of bad judgment and timing.
If enacted, what precedent will this have on the other 33 cities in Orange County?
How much in wages are the Lake Forest council being paid? They incorporated shortly after Mission Viejo. The same question could be asked of Laguna Niguel, another newer city in south County.
One thing is certain in our city. Nothing they do will ever surprise me.
Yes, we are still moving ahead with our $300,000 Rose Parade float while those living on Social Security checks in Casta struggle to keep their heads above water.
No Larry, people don’t run for city council because they want to give back to their communities. They run because their over-inflated egos thinks it’s a good idea. They run because they like the power. They run because they like developers kissing their arses. They run because they want to see their names emblazoned on government buildings for all of eternity. They run because they like to go to conferences, and supplement their vacations on the city’s dime. They run because they want to enrich themselves and their friends through back room, shady business dealings. Local politicians are about as useful as a third nipple and just as suave.
Hector, you said it correctly and eloquently. You can include most State Legislators and Congress members too, in my book. Sad, but true.
Hector.
What can I add to your assessment? Sadly there are more elected officials in this bucket than those who truly want to serve.
When I testified before the Assembly Housing & Community Development committee some years ago one of the members who agreed with my case specific presentation said “Larry we can’t throw the baby out the baby with the bath water.” I guess that applies to the minority of elected officials.
For most of those on the Mission Viejo council, $500 is a great deal of money. Of the five, wasn’t one of them fired and he’s now trying to make a living by using his political ties? Another left his government job under pressure after he assaulted a co-worker, and two are housewives. The city is paying them a lot more than they’re worth.
Folks.
The internal city of mission Viejo document dated June 30th opens by saying: “The following information is in response to questions from several Councilmembers.
The sections of the Govt Code that address the population brackets for Councilmembers salaries as well as the 5% annual increase allowed by law are as follows: They are Gov Code sections 25616(a) and 36516 (c):”
As such I cannot, on the record, indicate who is included in the word “several”
How much are Mission Viejo Council members receiving as reimbursement for expenses like mileage, cell phone minutes, et cetera.
Is this one of the cities where they have credit cards?
Larry-Larry-Larry:
Calm down my man.
Don’t you understand that the pigs just want to feed at the same troff that the city administrators do. They can not hand out those contracts to Parker Engineering, J. Clark, and the Design Bandit like a senior administrator does.
So just cool it–they only take a small bite. Go back to telling us the real facts about the Fire Station 24 caper. You missed the costs of the BIG expensive flower pots and the “SUPER” irrigation installations.
Personal opinions here…
UN-Be-Lievable…
There are exactly TWO people on the council who are interested in ego and power.
One is a pathetic little man who possesses expertise in city government equal to a Frenchman discussing military tactics, and the other is a whiney, hapless peon who could compete with Jesse Jackson’s coalition for the biggest “victim” award.
The rest of the council is comprised of reasonable, honest, imperfect yet ethical public servants.
Now, Hector, I tend to agree with you in general about politicians…so forgive me for disagreeing with you a bit.
So, once again, we have a diatribe of whining from the loonie bin ex-CIG idiots who live only to complain about the city council because they feel slighted that they either failed to win when running, or could not get their way 100% of the time.
Frankly, its amusing.
My invitation for you blood-sucking city council critics to jump off the Santa Margarita Bridge still stands.
Happy 4th!
If the council believes that they are not receiving enough compensation for their efforts, then why not reduce their workload. Instead of two meetings a month – reduce it to one meeting a month. That is a form of a wage increase.
The downside is the taxpayers lose an evening of entertainment. The upside is, it will take a month longer before city hall throws away our tax dollars on wasteful projects – like the Rose Float; and wasteful spending – like the $650 per month contract to cut the front lawn for Firehouse 24, a county facility.
NoHypocritesPlease
While I could easily hit the kill switch on your comments you do add a form of entertainment to the discussion. For that I say thanks!
Larry,
Its the cowardly Frenchman comments that make you love me…I know it.
Lighten up already. It is possible for some people to serve local government because they want to help make the world a better place. They still deserve to be fairly compensated for their time and effort. If you want to improve the quality of your elected representatives you should be willing to see them paid fairly.
If council members would stick to the legitimate business of the city (read the packet and attend council meetings), that’s what they’re paid to do. The compensation of $500/month is a generous amount. It is their option to attend (or not attend) events, meetings, dinners, etc. They do the latter as volunteers. I would suggest they immediately stop attending all the other activities instead of asking for a raise. The city is having to pay for their so-called free lunch, and they aren’t even welcome at the events and meetings.
If council members were actually overseeing and directing the city staff, maybe they would deserve a raise. However, when most of them are doing a terrible job at everything, they don’t deserve it.
apparently there are plenty of perks in office that keep encumbents willing to run for re-election.
in fact, it is obvious that they jealousy protect their jobs from any competitors thru their actions.
increasing the wage by over 250% could draw out those wanting to do it for the money.
mission viejo has not had a lack of volunteer – last election there were 10 candidates for 3 positions. all 3 encumbents won.
Ron St John.
Having known every council member in our city from inception (20 years ago) there was never an issue raised about their monthly compensation.
It’s not an issue of lightening up. Yes, $500 per month is probably below the traditional minimum wage, and every candidate has that information before throwing his or her hat into the arena.
There are many in our city who serve as volunteers. In fact there were four of us that tried to compete with Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune as we manually changed our community message board every Monday morning for 18 months until we were replaced by an electronic sign for $140,000 dollars but that’s another story.
Others work in our city library, our Heritage Committee, the MV Activity Committee, our animal shelter and our (seniors)”SCAT” team that support our OCSD. We are known for the thousands of hours our volunteers put in and do recognize them when they achieve specific milestones of service.
Yes Ron, I could agree with you and say that “you get what you pay for.” However, most OC cities offer the same (Govt Code)compensation range as we do. I believe that Villa Park city council members do not take any compensation.
Denizen of the Gilbertocracy
Sorry for the delay in answering one of your questions.
Our city council members are reimbursed $0.505 per mile, or fifty cents.
They also attend Monterey CA League of City Conferences with all expenses paid by city taxpayers for their “education” on key strategy and tactics such as how to circumlocut the Brown Act among other instructional “informative” workshops.
Having attended local League of Cities meetings they really would prefer keeping us locked out. The cost of these meetings is somewhat pricey. And, should you send in your check, you will not find a seat at the table where your city council sits. In fact, you may end up standing along a wall due to the limited seating provided.