Friday, January 16, 2015
The Laguna Hills' City Manager, Bruce Channing, unanimously received an annual bonus of 5% of his 2014 salary at the Laguna Hills City Council Meeting on Tuesday, January 13 of this year, despite protests from residents, and despite long being recognized as the Highest Paid City Manager in Orange County. His total Compensation for 2013 was reported on www.transparentcalifornia to be $383,081.00. Because Laguna Hills is a very small city with a population of only about 31,000, and a land area of only 6.7 square miles, it didn't make any sense to many residents who learned, years ago, that the City Manager of Laguna Hills was the highest paid City Manager in the entire County of Orange.
Anaheim is the most populous City in Orange County with 345,000 residents and 51 sq miles of land, second only to the City of Irvine with 66 sq. miles and a population of about 237,000. Yet, the total compensation of the City Manager of Laguna Hills', last reported in 2013 to be $383,081.00, exceeded the compensation of the City Manager of Anaheim by more than $7000 and exceeded the compensation of the City Manager of Irvine by more than $9000.
The only city manager we could find in Orange County who was paid more than the Laguna Hills City Manager in 2013 was Santa Ana's City Manager, David Cavos, who was hired in 2013 and quickly came under scrutiny for "raking in" more than $500,000.
It doesn't make any more sense to us today for the Laguna Hills City Manager to be paid so excessively, but if that could not be corrected, barring large contractual issue expenses for the City, many residents, at least expected a strong compensation line to be held, by the city council, related to any types of further increases.
An annual bonus for the City Manager of Laguna Hills already exists in that he continues to receive the still excessive compensation he was awarded many years ago and he continues to have choices of moving on to function in a large and more complex city or to continue to serve the residents of the City of Laguna Hills, at the highest level, with gratitude for the exceptional compensation he is currently receiving.
We know that the Laguna Hills' City Manager receives annual pass through raises at the same percentage given to the rest of the city management staff, but if the city council seeks to provide this already highly compensated city manager with any additional compensation, in any form, we strongly request that in the future they honor the residents by:
1. Clarifying their rationale publicly,
2. Stating amounts for the residents in terms of dollars and cents, rather than vague percentages and
3. Stress clear opportunities for public input in advance of voting on this issue.
Jean Bland, Editor, Laguna Hills Watch Dog
8 comments:
Was just thinking again of the fine presentation you gave to the City Council last night. It occurred to me that Channing's salary ought to have been cut, instead of raised, after Leisure World seceded and formed its own city several years ago. With its population of around 20,000, that meant that about half of the residents of Laguna Hills then became residents of Laguna Woods Village . . . so, since that time, his job likely has been less demanding rather than more demanding. Too bad they haven't paid him on a per capita basis! Really is disappointing that the council members seem to be like sheep, just following whatever the others do.
Pay information From Transparent California
http://transparentcalifornia.com/
Population Stats from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_California_cities_by_population
Name - Bruce E. Channing
Job title - City Manager, Laguna Hills, 2013
Population - 30,880-http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0639220.html
Regular pay - $238,156.92
Overtime pay - $0.00
Other pay - $41,242.69
Total
benefits - $103,682.21
Total Pay and Benefits - $383,081.82
Name - Marcie L Edwards
Job title - City Manager, ANAHEIM, 2013 - Most Populous City In Orange County, CA and 2nd largest in terms of land area
Population - 345,012
Regular pay - $283,686.00
Overtime pay - $0.00
Other pay - $16,166.56
Total
benefits - $75,875.61
Total Pay and Benefits - $375,728.17
Name - Sean Joyce
Job title - City Manager, IRVINE, 2013
Population 236,716
Regular pay - $258,185.52
Overtime pay - $0.00
Other pay - $29,608.32
Total
benefits - $85,604.05
Total Pay and Benefits - $373,397.89
Name - Dennis R. Wilberg
Job title - City Manager, MISSION VIEJO, 2013
Population 96,346
Regular pay - $212,738.54
Overtime pay - $0.00
Other pay - $24,295.02
Total
benefits - $73,201.42
Total Pay and Benefits - $310,234.98
Name - David Kiff
Job title - City Manager, NEWPORT BEACH, 2013
Population 87,273
Regular pay - $231,750.00
Overtime pay - $0.00
Other pay - $17,141.85
Total
benefits - $58,499.43
Total Pay and Benefits - $307,391.28
Name - Edmond G. Brown Jr.
Job title - Governor of CA , 2013
Population - 38,332,521
Regular pay - $159,553.80
Overtime pay - $0.00
Other pay - $0.00
Total
benefits - $16,588.60
Total Pay and Benefits - $176,142.40
Another thing that the public doesn't generally know is that labor negotiations with Channing, in the past have exceeded $23,000, just in legal fees for an outside labor negotiator, to attempt to get changes in his contract. -
I put this item together in 2011-2012 regarding the Taxpayer Expense for the Laguna Hills City Manager's Labor Negotiator for the past 8 months. One caution about this information is that I took all the payment reports from the City to Liebert, Cassidy and Whitmore from the City's (Sept. 13, 2011 - June 12, 2012) Warrant Registers and because there was no detailed report of services rendered, there is a possibility that some of the money paid could have been for services other than the Professional Labor Negotiator for Channing. However, payments to Liebert Cassidy and Whitmore did not show up in any of the City's Warrant Registers in the year 2011 until Sept.13, 2011 - "Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - Professional Fees, Legal Services, Jul '11 - $900.00" and at the July 12, 2011 City Council Meeting it was announced that Daniel Cassidy from Liebert, Cassidy and Whitmore had been chosen as the Labor Negotiator for the City Manager.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pay-645335-city-california.html
Watchdog: Public overtime pay surges
Dec. 15, 2014
Updated Dec. 16, 2014 11:01 p.m.
Laguna Hills City Manager Bruce Channing was No. 1 in the county, with total pay and benefits worth $383,082. That put him at No. 62 statewide, out of nearly 215,000 workers.
This should cause quite a stir. I can't believe the City Council did this.
What do we have to do to get this city council recalled?
What ever happened to being fiscally conservative in this city?
The amount of pay and benefits is alarming. Do the citizens of Laguna Hills realize how much we are paying the top five employees? Back when we became a city, the seated city council set this ridiculous pay schedule. They approved it and continued to go along. Shame on them for wasting taxpayers money.
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