Riverside County Leaders Fight Plan To Cut Supervisors’ Salaries
The fate of a proposal to slash Riverside County supervisors’ pay and take away various perks appears in doubt in the wake of a legal challenge by the county.
Earlier this month, former Norco City Councilman Herb Higgins filed a notice to circulate a petition to gather signatures to qualify an initiative for the next countywide election, asking voters to approve an amendment to the ordinance regulating county supervisors’ pay and benefits.
Under the proposal, supervisors’ salaries would be chopped from $143,031 to $76,232 a year; and they would lose their $550-a-month vehicle allowance, vacation allowance, $706-per-month flexible benefit allowance and their access to the California Public Employees Retirement System.
They would keep their mileage reimbursements, as well as life and disability insurance benefits.
On Wednesday, County Counsel Pamela Walls filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary stay to save her office from having to prepare a sample title and summary of the proposed initiative, which counties are required to print within 15 days of receiving a petition circulation notice. The deadline was today.
Walls argued Higgins’ proposed initiative was at odds with Article 11, section 1, of the state Constitution, which states that voters’ may challenge county supervisors’ salaries by referendum — not initiative.
Superior Court Judge Paulette Durand-Barkley granted a temporary stay on Thursday. The order will remain in effect until March 11, when another hearing is set on the merits of the county’s case.
Higgins has until March 2 to file a motion in opposition to the judge’s injunction.
In his proposal, the Norco man referred to “recent compensation scandals” involving elected officials as justification for his initiative. He compared the “duties and responsibilities” of county supervisors to members of the state Assembly and said their salaries should be weighted against Assembly members’ pay.
Under county Ordinance 780, supervisors are entitled to a base salary that’s 80 percent of what county judges earn, currently $178,789 a year. According to Higgins, a fairer formula is 80 percent of Assembly members’ starting salary — $95,291.
Higgins unsuccessfully tried to unseat Second District Supervisor John Tavaglione in June.
In her court filings, Walls said state law clearly states that an ordinance regulating boards of supervisors’ salaries cannot be amended by initiative. It requires a voter referendum, which has to be submitted within 60 days of the ordinance’s approval. Ordinance 780 was enacted in 1998 and last modified in November 2006.
