A five member Ad Hoc Committee on Board of Supervisors’ Compensation had a series of meetings over a two-month period and came to a unanimous set of recommendations which were presented to the Board on March 26, 2019, by Tom Hansen, Chair of the Committee:
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1) The salary of Board of Supervisors’ members should be adjusted to the average of the 9 Bay Area Counties and tied to the Superior Court Judges to be consistent with 7 of the 9 Bay Area Counties methodology for any future adjustments.
2) Adjust the Board of Supervisors’ base salary, starting with July 1, 2019, to tie future salary adjustments to 60% of the Superior Court Judges’ salaries.
3) Adjust the Board of Supervisors’ base salary, starting with January 1, 2020, to tie future salary adjustments to 63% of the Superior Court Judges’ salaries.
4) Adjust the Board of Supervisors’ base salary, starting with January 1, 2021 and future years, to tie future salary adjustments to 65% of the Superior Court Judges’ salaries.
The Board of Supervisors accepted the report of the Ad Hoc Committee and directed the County Administrator and County Counsel to prepare an ordinance reflecting the committee’s recommendations for introduction on April 9, 2019, and adoption on April 16, 2019. In addition to the fixed increases described above, the ordinance provides for ongoing increases to Board members’ salaries, at the same time and in the same percentage, as are granted by the legislature to judges of the Contra Costa County Superior Court, so that the salaries of Board members consistently track the authorized percentage of judges’ salaries. For purposes of transparency, the ordinance requires that for all adjustments other than those scheduled to occur on July 1, 2019, January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021, a “notice of adjustment in compensation paid to members of the Board of Supervisors” will be placed on the agenda of a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors at least ten days prior to the date adjustments are implemented.
Should the Board of Supervisors elect not to adopt the ordinance, the status quo would be maintained.