Raises for top Riverside County officials were on the agenda for the Board of Supervisors Aug. 5 meeting. The board considered increases for themselves as well as the other elected county officials — assessor/county clerk/recorder, auditor-controller, district attorney, sheriff/coroner and treasurer/tax collector.
State law authorizes each county’s supervisors to set their own compensation. The Riverside board members have received no increases since 2007. Their current annual salary is $143,031.
In 1998, a Blue Ribbon Salary Review Committee recommended that county supervisors’ salary be set at 80 percent of the salary for a state Superior Court judge. Judges have recently received 1.4-percent and 1.83-percent increases.
If approved, the Riverside supervisors’ salaries would increase $4,656 — to $147,688.
Elected officials would receive increases between 20 to 22 percent. The sheriff’s and district attorney’s annual salaries would increase by 22.33 percent to $273,000 annually from the current level of $223,200. Other elected officials would receive a 20.68 percent raise — to $200,000 annually. Their current salary is $166,700.
The new salaries would be effective Sept. 18. District Attorney Paul Zellerbach would enjoy only a few months of the raise before he leaves office in January for Michael Hestrin who won the June election.