As regular as the swallows return each year to San Juan Capistrano, Bakersfield City Council members are once again talking about asking voters to give them a pay raise.
This time, they hired Washington state-based accounting and management consultants Moss Adams to attest to how stingy Bakersfield is when it comes to compensating council members for their public service.
Compensation is set at $100 a month in the city charter, which voters passed in the early 1900s. It reflects the one and only time the pay was raised and that was in 1956. Pay raise ballot measures in 1954, 1974, 1988 and 1990 failed.
But that hasn’t stopped council members from bringing up their desire for a pay raise in recent years — notably last year and 2021. Both times the idea was postponed for more study.
Former Ward 7 City Councilman Chris Parlier was a big pay raise proponent. He also pushed to give the mayor more pay, responsibilities and staff.
In a Californian opinion column last year, Kern County Taxpayers Association Executive Director Michael Turnipseed called for an overhaul of the entire city charter and recommended council membership become full-time positions “with proper compensation.”
About 25 percent of California’s 478 incorporated cities are governed by charters, like Bakersfield’s. Charters were crafted by some cities in the early years of California’s formation and were in response to the state’s heavy-handed treatment of cities. Charters expressed citizens’ demands for “home rule.”
Were full-time council members what voters wanted when they adopted the city charter in 1914? Was a pay raise for council members what voters had in mind when they narrowly passed Measure N in 2018 to add 1 cent to the city’s sales tax to improve city services?
For one reason or another, Bakersfield citizens step forward to compete for elected seats on the City Council. They regard it as a public service and an opportunity to give back to their community.
Some also consider it to be a springboard to a higher political office. For example, Ward 2 Councilman Andrae Gonzales recently declared his intention to run for the state Assembly. Over the years, several council members have gone on to become elected members of the state Legislature and Congress.
This is not to say that council members today don’t deserve a raise. They work hard to represent their constituents and make important policy decisions.
For council members to get a raise, a measure must be placed on the ballot and voters must agree. Should council members be compensated as full-time employees or “volunteer” citizen representatives?
During a recent meeting, council members considered consultant Moss Adams’ comparison of Bakersfield’s compensation to those of other California cities. If only the $100 a month “stipend” council members receive is considered, Bakersfield looks downright stingy.
But are the City Council duties and authorities identical in each city in the comparison? Or is it a matter of apples and oranges?
Also to be considered is the fact that council members each are entitled to about $8,000 a year in car allowance, potentially $25,000 a year in free medical, dental, vision and life insurance, and other benefits. That totals way more than $100 a month.
Bakersfield City Attorney Ginny Gennaro has warned council members that efforts to amend Bakersfield’s charter have historically been difficult to pass.
“We’ve done these charter amendments before — several times in my career. It’s very difficult to get them to pass,” said Gennaro. “I’m not telling you to lean one way or the other.”
For council members to have any chance of voters agreeing to change the city charter to increase their monthly “base pay,” they must level with voters.
Disclose all the compensation and taxpayer-funded “perks” each receives. Make the case that the hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars they really get annually in total benefits isn’t enough.
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