Costs to staff and facilitate Committee meetings are estimated not to exceed $28,800. Meeting stipends and mileage reimbursement are estimated not to exceed $3,000 in total.
On February 10, 2015, the Board of Supervisors considered several options for setting Board member salaries, as well as the possible salary level. Following its deliberations, the Board directed the County Counsel to prepare two ordinances for possible introduction on March 3: one authorizing a 7% increase1 to the Board of Supervisors member salaries to the annual level of $104,307.28, and an alternate ordinance that additionally links the Board's salary level to that of 56.5% of a Superior Court Judge's salary. The salary increase would be effective on June 1, 2015. The requested ordinances are transmitted to the Board today in a separate item.
The Board, on February 10, 2015, also directed the County Administrator to convene an ad hoc committee to study the compensation of the Board of Supervisors members. The Board specifically defined the composition and charge of the committee as recommended in the attached Resolution No. 2015/67. The County Administrator's Office is prepared to provide meeting facilitation and staff support to the Ad Hoc Committee. In light of the significant amount of research and discussions that are anticipated for the committee's work, we are recommending a small meeting stipend and reimbursement for mileage expense incurred by the committee members to attend the Ad Hoc Committee meetings, commensurate with the stipend authorized for civil grand jurors, who prepare similar studies and reports.
1. The 7% increase was based on a 4% general COLA granted to employees on July 1, 2014 plus a 3% COLA that employees will receive on July 1, 2015.
Should the Board of Supervisors elect not to approve the recommendations, a process to study Board of Supervisors compensation would remain undefined and, lacking other direction, would not proceed.