4c) Discussion and Possible Action Including Introduction and Waive First Reading of an Ordinance of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Mendocino Amending Chapter 3.04.071 of the Mendocino County Code Increasing the Base Salary for Members of the Board of Supervisors
(Sponsor: Human Resources)
County workers need a living wage before you give yourself any type of increase. Especially unacceptable after the recent DA/Sheriff increases (unearned!)
I have a question. Why did Human Resources compare the Supervisors' salaries to County Administrators and City Managers? There is no good reason why they should not have compared them to other County Supervisors and City Council Members. At a time when the competence and ethics of the County and in particular the Board of Supervisors is under such scrutiny, this does not look good.
Absolutely unacceptable.
To even think about considering giving yourselves a bigger raise than the employees of Mendocino County is absurd. The entire board should be ashamed of themselves.
You don't get to throw a fit about how little money the county has then do this. You just don't get to do that.
I believe it's important to address the issue of employee compensation at Mendocino County. There are employees who are struggling to make a living due to their current wages, and it's vital to consider adjusting salaries to reflect the cost of living. Additionally, we should explore ways to allocate funds within the budget to provide fair raises for county employees. It's crucial to approach this matter thoughtfully and professionally to ensure fair treatment for all.
During the most recent contract negotiations with county employees the Board of Supervisors continually and repeatedly claimed there was no money for even minuscule COLAs, much less raises. They had to be strong armed into accepting even a 1% COLA and more equal wages according to a county comparison study, which aren't even coming to fruition for another year. Now the Board wants to give themselves raises, equivalent to a much larger COLA than they were willing to consider for the county employees who actually do the day to day work of running the county. The moxie of the Board of Supervisors is impressive. Their complete lack of empathy, reasonableness, and self-awareness is not. During the contract negotiations one Supervisor disparaged county employees requesting even a minor COLA by suggesting that "not everyone can have a five bedroom house" (never mind that most of us would simply like to be able to pay the rent on our one bedroom apartments without spending over 50% of our paycheck). I'd like to suggest that the Board take their own member's advice and if the Supervisors are hurting for money, they downsize from their five bedroom houses and learn how to budget for their own households. Trying to raise their own salaries certainly shows they don't know how to budget for the County.
We are strongly opposed to the proposed salary increase for the County Board of Supervisors. County employees have been told that the County does not have money for their Cost of Living increase. And that is absolutely basic in my opinion. Our supervisors have salaries that are comparable to similar counties. It makes no sense to deny COLA increases and vote yourself a $15K raise.
It is of great concern that the County “2023 Compensation Study” for all County employees which was used to determine wage increases in FY 24-25 and FY 25-26 during labor negotiations had to be requested from the County multiple times. See PRAs 24-391, 24-505, and 24-531. Yet it is still wrong and a useless tool. https://mendocinocounty.nextrequest.com/requests/24-505
On page 40 of 83 of the document provided by the County to fulfill PRA 24-505, the Board salaries are compared to City Managers and Chief Administrative Officers in other Counties. It is wildly inappropriate to compare the BOS salary to that of CAO/CEO or City Manager. The “2023” study also shows that data was updated as recent as June and July 2024. How is that so when it was used to determine increases determined by MOU earlier this year? Yet on a document provided by another commenter here (Reveles), there is a completely different summary comparing the BOS salary to other County BOS salaries. So did HR give wrong data on purpose through the Public Records Request or is our County staff that irresponsible and incompetent? Either way we NEED an HR Director. One who will keep the CEO in check and not roll over at every request of the CEO. Somebody who understands the careful balance and intricacies of the County. Why was this compensation study done in house without the direction of a competent leader when the last salary study was a lot more robust and was done by third party? Why was the CEO at the table representing the Unrepresented employees when those employees have always been represented by outside Counsel? Yet the unrepresented employees DID NOT receive any increase other than the useless 1% COLA that is a total slap in the face when she herself was just given a raise by this Board at the tune of almost 25% over the next 2 years. Why were all County staff not given retroactive COLAs when their contracts had been expired for so long yet this Board voted to give the CEO a retroactive raise back dated to March of this year. This is unjust and inappropriate.
In addition, comparing Mendocino County to our neighbors like Napa and Sonoma is a stretch. Those Counties have significantly bigger populations. Has anyone done a comparison of number of constituents per District to take that into consideration of the salary?
Supervisor McGourty is entirely tone deaf to state “The BOS is committed to fair market wages for all employees.” I’d like to point out that there are other salary studies shown in the 2023 Total Compensation Study (which we have already proven is wrong) that were not approved in the MOUs and given to those employees who not only deserve them, but need them to survive in this economy. Glenn, if you’re too stressed, move to your new home on the Coast and let Jan do all the work. We have our very own Jill/Joe Biden duo here.
Not once has the CEO or Sara Pierce actually shown ongoing savings to the General Fund. They have shown inflated numbers that nobody can actually make sense of or figure out how they came up with these bizarre calculations. Yet the Board is patting itself on the back. For what? “CEO Antle and her financial team also played a significant role in this effort…” Who is her financial team? Tim Hallman was banished mid way through the budget cycle to General Services which no longer exists. DCEO Tony Rakes and Jesica Sandoval have no real experience in County-wide budgets. And the two “Administrative Analysts” who are supposedly part of the fiscal team don’t know their heads from their tails. How many Department Heads has this Board and CEO run off? I’ve lost track.
The entire Executive Office and it’s many divisions need desk audits performed by outside auditors that cannot be swayed by the CEO to have the outcomes fit whatever narrative she has cooked up in her head. This Board has done nothing but empower an entitled CEO to tear apart each and every department one by one and she won’t stop until the entire County is completely in shambles, at which point she will just pack up and walk away. You should be embarrassed to be asking for an increase. This Board needs a reality check. And our workers deserve more.
“ The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors’ mission is to create and maintain a responsive and responsible government that enhances the quality of life of the people of Mendocino County. The County’s mission is to deliver services that meet: Public safety, health, social, cultural, education, transportation, economic, and environmental needs of our communities.” The mission statement for the board of supervisors. Do you feel that giving yourself this raise prior to giving employees a livable wage meets this statement?
Subject: Concerns Regarding Leadership and Proposed Salary Increase
Dear [Recipient],
I am deeply concerned by the recent proposal to increase your personal salaries, especially in light of your decisions and actions that have negatively impacted our county.
Your disregard for the advice of department heads has led to a financial crisis, causing significant strain on the county's resources. Despite claiming there is no money available for those who are essential to the county's functioning, you now propose rewarding yourselves for what you deem to be stellar performance.
Your approach to leadership is not only disappointing but also alarming. It reflects a lack of empathy and consideration for the well-being of the people you are entrusted to serve.
This proposal does not align with principles of fairness and responsible governance. It undermines trust and risks further dividing our community.
I strongly urge you to reconsider this proposal and prioritize the needs of our county over personal gain.
If the County does not have enough money to pay all of its employees a living wage, then it does not have enough money for you to give yourselves a raise! I do not know a single department where every worker is paid enough to meet their basic needs. It would be tone deaf and morally repugnant for you to give yourselves a $15,000 raise while crucially important workers such as IHSS, administrative, and library staff make less than $20 an hour. Stand with the workers who make this County run. Vote no.
This is a ridiculous proposal considering how much push back we've received re: providing MUCH NEEDED raises to Mendocino County Employees over the past year. How dare you try to increase your own pay after all of the nonsense we've heard over the past year about how there isn't enough money in our budget to afford even a 1% COLA! Over half of the staff in my department make less than $20/hr and at least one position is limited to only 2 step increases because no one has bothered to fix the pay scale after the minimum wage increase, and you want to increase your own pay?! This is unconscionable, and I'll remember this when you are up for re-election.
Lets evaluate on your actual performance instead of easy to skew market studies. Tell us your accomplishments oh visionary leaders. Goals and priorities. Positive impactful change as a result of your work and astute decision making.
Salary of $85,500 in 2018 shooting up to $110,715 next year.....a $25,215 increase. Justify that to your constituents please.
Typing a list of all the meetings you sat in and events you attended and calling it a supervisors report is not an accomplishment.
Voting yourselves a raise AGAIN would be shameless, egregious, and immoral.
Workers in this county that actually function to serve the residents like IHSS, library, and other pulic assistants are not getting a living wage.
While there is so much banter about a broke county, this boards' actions have not benefited residents and at times harmed us with innane decisions leading to ACLU actions, costly law suits, bad decisions about consolidating jobs, etc.
BOS main job is to be responsible for county budget which has obviously been a utter failure also cited by the state's audit.
I STONGLY OPPOSE GIVING YOURSELVES ANOTHER RAISE. Especially if more than the measly % increase others have had to fight hard and long for and still not make a living wage.
I apologize for not being even toned and polite about this issue but to even have your raises considered is an insult to all county workers lunable to support themselves let alone families.
It is concerning that nobody can say what the County's budget is.
It is even more concerning that this failure to account for the county's revenue and expenses leads the board to confidently say that there is no money for paying library workers a living wage, while also confidently saying that there is money in the budget for their own salaries to be increased.
Please pass a county worker minimum wage of $20/hour, *and* Cost Of Living Increases that actually keep up with increased living costs, before increasing your own pay.
Attached is an analysis of the BOS salaries using County HR methodology. It uses a combination of publicly available data and County HR data. Though there is some debate about the accuracy of the County calculation for benefit expenses this workbook includes the County’s assumptions. For example, these assumptions overstate FICA taxes because they don’t back out health insurance before calculation of the tax. The County also assumes all members of certain bargaining units receive longevity even when staff do not, and often don’t stay long enough to receive them. The County also assumes staff received the full cost benefit of family coverage. Retirement costs are excluded completely because jurisdictions have different benefit formulas and any given employee’s unique situation pertaining to the choice of when to retire. The point is that the assumptions HR uses for benefits in salary surveys are not based on actual costs of each employee.
Including the 9 comparator agencies the County require be used in the recent round of labor negotiations we can see the BOS base salary, which doesn’t include any benefit expenses, is between 9.42% and 13.49% above either the median or the mean. This means their base salary is more than the other agencies. Including deferred compensation and longevity pay, the BOS salaries are between 14.37% and 17.74% greater than the median or mean. For total compensation (which includes health insurance and social security/medicare), the measure the HR uses for most salary surveys, we see the BOS is paid between 17.75% and 20.20% above the median or the mean. These results are on the bottom of page 1 and page 2. Given there is such large variability of salaries among the agencies (from $3,657 per month to $18,622) it would make sense to trim the results so the calculations wouldn’t include both the lowest and the highest paying agencies. This would make the comparisons more reasonable.
Notably, the market study for the BOS is based on only three comparator agencies, rather than the 9 included for county employees. Using only three comparator agencies results in a more favorable assessment of the BOS salary based on the mean, due to the inclusion of Sonoma County. Based on results of the three agencies salary study, the results show the BOS total compensation is between 9.06% below market based on the mean, compared to 8.45% above market based on the median.
During recent negotiations the County made a point to not agreeing to any changes to the current compensation study practices during the negotiations. Yet here we see a change to the comparator agencies.
Finally, the final page shows data from the State Controller’s website for County supervisors’ data as was available at the time of this writing. Given there are timing differences between when HR did the salary survey and rates posted on County sites if you went to look at pay today, we can use page 3 as a reference to help decide if we think the salaries and benefits from the first two pages make sense. I’ve provided the link in the document so you can verify the data. If we compare the Mendocino County data to the first two pages, we see that the average monthly salary of this BOS is $9,198, while the salary worksheet shows total pay of $8,657 per month. The salary worksheet is low compared to calendar year 2023 and the difference is likely a car allowance. For benefits we see this number is $3,451 while the salary workbook shows a value of $3,368. These numbers show the totals (salary and benefits) in the salary workbook seem reasonable.
The proposed +16% base pay increase over two years does not appear to be warranted based on this information.
Please vote NO on this agenda item, you all have repeatedly said NO to raises asked for by county employees, and they are actually being paid below average in the 8 counties we typically use for comparison while you are NOT paid below average according to the same 8 county baseline. We hear constantly how our county "doesn't have any money" and where are we going to get more money, for you to go forward and approve an increase to your personal salaries is going to cause a division in our county and pit people against you in ways that will make it more difficult for us to work together and move forward as a county. You already earn more than 99% of the residents of this county do, and please don't let yourself feel like you work harder than anyone, all the custodians, cooks, library staff, hotel staff, grape harvesters for wineries, those operating jackhammers to build bridges and roads- both public sector and private sector alike- EVERYONE is working hard, you have the privilege of jobs that do not break your back, please RECOGNIZE this and vote NO, do NOT increase your personal salaries.
The economic and ethical absurdity of an elected Board of Supervisors to ask itself for a 15 percent increase in salary over the next two fiscal years is glaringly apparent here. How can we create a resilient county workforce when this same board will also ask the majority of it's workforce to pay for more of their health insurance costs next calendar year? A Board that has neglected to even offer wages themselves in steps of classification of the lowest paid county workers- even though it has been county public policy since the 1950's to do such. I would urge the BOS to take this almost $100,000 they are asking for themselves and distribute it to the lowest paid county workers salary schedules. To help feed our families bellies, to make our rents, pay our utilities. When was the last time board members you have had less than $1,000 in savings for an emergency for you and your family, or even were 'renting' a place to live? Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, your economic privilege can wait, your workers need help now.
Frankly, this is appalling. I realize supervisors must perform numerous unseen and thankless tasks, but certainly no more so than our county’s lowest paid workers. The BOS fought hard against meager COLA adjustments for longtime, dedicated workers making well below a living wage. How can they justify this request? This is further evidence that the board is completely out of touch with their constituents and the staff who make keep this county functioning.
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County workers need a living wage before you give yourself any type of increase. Especially unacceptable after the recent DA/Sheriff increases (unearned!)
I have a question. Why did Human Resources compare the Supervisors' salaries to County Administrators and City Managers? There is no good reason why they should not have compared them to other County Supervisors and City Council Members. At a time when the competence and ethics of the County and in particular the Board of Supervisors is under such scrutiny, this does not look good.
Absolutely unacceptable.
To even think about considering giving yourselves a bigger raise than the employees of Mendocino County is absurd. The entire board should be ashamed of themselves.
You don't get to throw a fit about how little money the county has then do this. You just don't get to do that.
I believe it's important to address the issue of employee compensation at Mendocino County. There are employees who are struggling to make a living due to their current wages, and it's vital to consider adjusting salaries to reflect the cost of living. Additionally, we should explore ways to allocate funds within the budget to provide fair raises for county employees. It's crucial to approach this matter thoughtfully and professionally to ensure fair treatment for all.
During the most recent contract negotiations with county employees the Board of Supervisors continually and repeatedly claimed there was no money for even minuscule COLAs, much less raises. They had to be strong armed into accepting even a 1% COLA and more equal wages according to a county comparison study, which aren't even coming to fruition for another year. Now the Board wants to give themselves raises, equivalent to a much larger COLA than they were willing to consider for the county employees who actually do the day to day work of running the county. The moxie of the Board of Supervisors is impressive. Their complete lack of empathy, reasonableness, and self-awareness is not. During the contract negotiations one Supervisor disparaged county employees requesting even a minor COLA by suggesting that "not everyone can have a five bedroom house" (never mind that most of us would simply like to be able to pay the rent on our one bedroom apartments without spending over 50% of our paycheck). I'd like to suggest that the Board take their own member's advice and if the Supervisors are hurting for money, they downsize from their five bedroom houses and learn how to budget for their own households. Trying to raise their own salaries certainly shows they don't know how to budget for the County.
We are strongly opposed to the proposed salary increase for the County Board of Supervisors. County employees have been told that the County does not have money for their Cost of Living increase. And that is absolutely basic in my opinion. Our supervisors have salaries that are comparable to similar counties. It makes no sense to deny COLA increases and vote yourself a $15K raise.
It is of great concern that the County “2023 Compensation Study” for all County employees which was used to determine wage increases in FY 24-25 and FY 25-26 during labor negotiations had to be requested from the County multiple times. See PRAs 24-391, 24-505, and 24-531. Yet it is still wrong and a useless tool. https://mendocinocounty.nextrequest.com/requests/24-505
On page 40 of 83 of the document provided by the County to fulfill PRA 24-505, the Board salaries are compared to City Managers and Chief Administrative Officers in other Counties. It is wildly inappropriate to compare the BOS salary to that of CAO/CEO or City Manager. The “2023” study also shows that data was updated as recent as June and July 2024. How is that so when it was used to determine increases determined by MOU earlier this year? Yet on a document provided by another commenter here (Reveles), there is a completely different summary comparing the BOS salary to other County BOS salaries. So did HR give wrong data on purpose through the Public Records Request or is our County staff that irresponsible and incompetent? Either way we NEED an HR Director. One who will keep the CEO in check and not roll over at every request of the CEO. Somebody who understands the careful balance and intricacies of the County. Why was this compensation study done in house without the direction of a competent leader when the last salary study was a lot more robust and was done by third party? Why was the CEO at the table representing the Unrepresented employees when those employees have always been represented by outside Counsel? Yet the unrepresented employees DID NOT receive any increase other than the useless 1% COLA that is a total slap in the face when she herself was just given a raise by this Board at the tune of almost 25% over the next 2 years. Why were all County staff not given retroactive COLAs when their contracts had been expired for so long yet this Board voted to give the CEO a retroactive raise back dated to March of this year. This is unjust and inappropriate.
In addition, comparing Mendocino County to our neighbors like Napa and Sonoma is a stretch. Those Counties have significantly bigger populations. Has anyone done a comparison of number of constituents per District to take that into consideration of the salary?
Supervisor McGourty is entirely tone deaf to state “The BOS is committed to fair market wages for all employees.” I’d like to point out that there are other salary studies shown in the 2023 Total Compensation Study (which we have already proven is wrong) that were not approved in the MOUs and given to those employees who not only deserve them, but need them to survive in this economy. Glenn, if you’re too stressed, move to your new home on the Coast and let Jan do all the work. We have our very own Jill/Joe Biden duo here.
Not once has the CEO or Sara Pierce actually shown ongoing savings to the General Fund. They have shown inflated numbers that nobody can actually make sense of or figure out how they came up with these bizarre calculations. Yet the Board is patting itself on the back. For what? “CEO Antle and her financial team also played a significant role in this effort…” Who is her financial team? Tim Hallman was banished mid way through the budget cycle to General Services which no longer exists. DCEO Tony Rakes and Jesica Sandoval have no real experience in County-wide budgets. And the two “Administrative Analysts” who are supposedly part of the fiscal team don’t know their heads from their tails. How many Department Heads has this Board and CEO run off? I’ve lost track.
The entire Executive Office and it’s many divisions need desk audits performed by outside auditors that cannot be swayed by the CEO to have the outcomes fit whatever narrative she has cooked up in her head. This Board has done nothing but empower an entitled CEO to tear apart each and every department one by one and she won’t stop until the entire County is completely in shambles, at which point she will just pack up and walk away. You should be embarrassed to be asking for an increase. This Board needs a reality check. And our workers deserve more.
“ The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors’ mission is to create and maintain a responsive and responsible government that enhances the quality of life of the people of Mendocino County. The County’s mission is to deliver services that meet: Public safety, health, social, cultural, education, transportation, economic, and environmental needs of our communities.” The mission statement for the board of supervisors. Do you feel that giving yourself this raise prior to giving employees a livable wage meets this statement?
Subject: Concerns Regarding Leadership and Proposed Salary Increase
Dear [Recipient],
I am deeply concerned by the recent proposal to increase your personal salaries, especially in light of your decisions and actions that have negatively impacted our county.
Your disregard for the advice of department heads has led to a financial crisis, causing significant strain on the county's resources. Despite claiming there is no money available for those who are essential to the county's functioning, you now propose rewarding yourselves for what you deem to be stellar performance.
Your approach to leadership is not only disappointing but also alarming. It reflects a lack of empathy and consideration for the well-being of the people you are entrusted to serve.
This proposal does not align with principles of fairness and responsible governance. It undermines trust and risks further dividing our community.
I strongly urge you to reconsider this proposal and prioritize the needs of our county over personal gain.
If the County does not have enough money to pay all of its employees a living wage, then it does not have enough money for you to give yourselves a raise! I do not know a single department where every worker is paid enough to meet their basic needs. It would be tone deaf and morally repugnant for you to give yourselves a $15,000 raise while crucially important workers such as IHSS, administrative, and library staff make less than $20 an hour. Stand with the workers who make this County run. Vote no.
This is a ridiculous proposal considering how much push back we've received re: providing MUCH NEEDED raises to Mendocino County Employees over the past year. How dare you try to increase your own pay after all of the nonsense we've heard over the past year about how there isn't enough money in our budget to afford even a 1% COLA! Over half of the staff in my department make less than $20/hr and at least one position is limited to only 2 step increases because no one has bothered to fix the pay scale after the minimum wage increase, and you want to increase your own pay?! This is unconscionable, and I'll remember this when you are up for re-election.
Lets evaluate on your actual performance instead of easy to skew market studies. Tell us your accomplishments oh visionary leaders. Goals and priorities. Positive impactful change as a result of your work and astute decision making.
Salary of $85,500 in 2018 shooting up to $110,715 next year.....a $25,215 increase. Justify that to your constituents please.
Typing a list of all the meetings you sat in and events you attended and calling it a supervisors report is not an accomplishment.
Voting yourselves a raise AGAIN would be shameless, egregious, and immoral.
Workers in this county that actually function to serve the residents like IHSS, library, and other pulic assistants are not getting a living wage.
While there is so much banter about a broke county, this boards' actions have not benefited residents and at times harmed us with innane decisions leading to ACLU actions, costly law suits, bad decisions about consolidating jobs, etc.
BOS main job is to be responsible for county budget which has obviously been a utter failure also cited by the state's audit.
I STONGLY OPPOSE GIVING YOURSELVES ANOTHER RAISE. Especially if more than the measly % increase others have had to fight hard and long for and still not make a living wage.
I apologize for not being even toned and polite about this issue but to even have your raises considered is an insult to all county workers lunable to support themselves let alone families.
If you give yourselves a raise, give all the other county workers a raise too.
It is concerning that nobody can say what the County's budget is.
It is even more concerning that this failure to account for the county's revenue and expenses leads the board to confidently say that there is no money for paying library workers a living wage, while also confidently saying that there is money in the budget for their own salaries to be increased.
Please pass a county worker minimum wage of $20/hour, *and* Cost Of Living Increases that actually keep up with increased living costs, before increasing your own pay.
Attached is an analysis of the BOS salaries using County HR methodology. It uses a combination of publicly available data and County HR data. Though there is some debate about the accuracy of the County calculation for benefit expenses this workbook includes the County’s assumptions. For example, these assumptions overstate FICA taxes because they don’t back out health insurance before calculation of the tax. The County also assumes all members of certain bargaining units receive longevity even when staff do not, and often don’t stay long enough to receive them. The County also assumes staff received the full cost benefit of family coverage. Retirement costs are excluded completely because jurisdictions have different benefit formulas and any given employee’s unique situation pertaining to the choice of when to retire. The point is that the assumptions HR uses for benefits in salary surveys are not based on actual costs of each employee.
Including the 9 comparator agencies the County require be used in the recent round of labor negotiations we can see the BOS base salary, which doesn’t include any benefit expenses, is between 9.42% and 13.49% above either the median or the mean. This means their base salary is more than the other agencies. Including deferred compensation and longevity pay, the BOS salaries are between 14.37% and 17.74% greater than the median or mean. For total compensation (which includes health insurance and social security/medicare), the measure the HR uses for most salary surveys, we see the BOS is paid between 17.75% and 20.20% above the median or the mean. These results are on the bottom of page 1 and page 2. Given there is such large variability of salaries among the agencies (from $3,657 per month to $18,622) it would make sense to trim the results so the calculations wouldn’t include both the lowest and the highest paying agencies. This would make the comparisons more reasonable.
Notably, the market study for the BOS is based on only three comparator agencies, rather than the 9 included for county employees. Using only three comparator agencies results in a more favorable assessment of the BOS salary based on the mean, due to the inclusion of Sonoma County. Based on results of the three agencies salary study, the results show the BOS total compensation is between 9.06% below market based on the mean, compared to 8.45% above market based on the median.
During recent negotiations the County made a point to not agreeing to any changes to the current compensation study practices during the negotiations. Yet here we see a change to the comparator agencies.
Finally, the final page shows data from the State Controller’s website for County supervisors’ data as was available at the time of this writing. Given there are timing differences between when HR did the salary survey and rates posted on County sites if you went to look at pay today, we can use page 3 as a reference to help decide if we think the salaries and benefits from the first two pages make sense. I’ve provided the link in the document so you can verify the data. If we compare the Mendocino County data to the first two pages, we see that the average monthly salary of this BOS is $9,198, while the salary worksheet shows total pay of $8,657 per month. The salary worksheet is low compared to calendar year 2023 and the difference is likely a car allowance. For benefits we see this number is $3,451 while the salary workbook shows a value of $3,368. These numbers show the totals (salary and benefits) in the salary workbook seem reasonable.
The proposed +16% base pay increase over two years does not appear to be warranted based on this information.
Please vote NO on this agenda item, you all have repeatedly said NO to raises asked for by county employees, and they are actually being paid below average in the 8 counties we typically use for comparison while you are NOT paid below average according to the same 8 county baseline. We hear constantly how our county "doesn't have any money" and where are we going to get more money, for you to go forward and approve an increase to your personal salaries is going to cause a division in our county and pit people against you in ways that will make it more difficult for us to work together and move forward as a county. You already earn more than 99% of the residents of this county do, and please don't let yourself feel like you work harder than anyone, all the custodians, cooks, library staff, hotel staff, grape harvesters for wineries, those operating jackhammers to build bridges and roads- both public sector and private sector alike- EVERYONE is working hard, you have the privilege of jobs that do not break your back, please RECOGNIZE this and vote NO, do NOT increase your personal salaries.
The economic and ethical absurdity of an elected Board of Supervisors to ask itself for a 15 percent increase in salary over the next two fiscal years is glaringly apparent here. How can we create a resilient county workforce when this same board will also ask the majority of it's workforce to pay for more of their health insurance costs next calendar year? A Board that has neglected to even offer wages themselves in steps of classification of the lowest paid county workers- even though it has been county public policy since the 1950's to do such. I would urge the BOS to take this almost $100,000 they are asking for themselves and distribute it to the lowest paid county workers salary schedules. To help feed our families bellies, to make our rents, pay our utilities. When was the last time board members you have had less than $1,000 in savings for an emergency for you and your family, or even were 'renting' a place to live? Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, your economic privilege can wait, your workers need help now.
Frankly, this is appalling. I realize supervisors must perform numerous unseen and thankless tasks, but certainly no more so than our county’s lowest paid workers. The BOS fought hard against meager COLA adjustments for longtime, dedicated workers making well below a living wage. How can they justify this request? This is further evidence that the board is completely out of touch with their constituents and the staff who make keep this county functioning.