On Tuesday, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors will review proposals to raise the compensation of the county’s elected officials, e.g., sheriff and district attorney, as well as senior career management who are not represented by any labor association. Supervisors’ salaries are not part of any of these proposals.
Jay Orr, the county’s new executive officer, has submitted the proposed 2012-13 budget to the board. A hearing is planned for June 11. The budget proposal assumes more than 200 employees will be laid off in order to balance the budget.
Meanwhile, the district attorney and sheriff would receive 12.5 percent raises next year and cumulative 30.6 percent over the four-year period. The other three elected officials, assessor, auditor, and tax collector, would receive 10 percent and 27.7 percent raises for the same periods.
Subordinate managers in these departments would receive raises between seven and 15 percent.
The county’s Human Resources’ Director Barbara Olivier submitted the recommendation for the board’s approval. She offered two reasons for taking the action now.
In the past several months, Riverside County completed renegotiating several labor contracts, including with the Riverside Sheriff Association and others. While the county has negotiated significant savings in pension costs, it has granted these employees pay raises. Consequently, employee salaries are approaching senior management levels.
Secondly, Olivier surveyed the salary levels of five neighboring counties and found Riverside’s elected officials were 9 percent less than the median salary of similar officials in those counties.
