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AD HOC COMMITTEE ON BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COMPENSATION
Meeting Date: 05/28/2015  
Subject:    STAFF RESEARCH ON ITEMS REQUESTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON MAY 12
Submitted For: Stephen L. Weir
Department: County Administrator  
Referral No.:  
Referral Name:
Presenter: Steve Weir Contact: Julie DiMaggio Enea 925.335.1077
Information
Referral History:
At the April 23 meeting, the Committee was provided a compilation of information on county health benefit trends, County auto allowance and mileage reimbursement, and supplemental pays; historical data on adjustments to the Board’s salary in addition to general salary and health benefit changes for selected labor groups; information about what compensation elements are pensionable; and information on San Francisco Civil Service Commission salary-setting procedures and other examples where such a salary setting commission operates.

The Committee established the following points of consensus through its April 23 and May 7 meetings:
  • The job of County Supervisor should be compensated as a full time job
  • The salary should not be tied to a judge or any position not related or comparable to a County Supervisor
  • The salary should not be tied to another County job classification
  • An independent commission should review the Board’s salary at regular intervals
  • The Board’s salary should be based on the duties and responsibilities of the position rather than on performance of the official (performance to be decided by the electorate)
  • While salary is not the guiding factor for Supervisorial candidates, it should not be so low as to be a barrier to public service and should be high enough to attract good candidates
  • The methodology for future salary setting should embody the leadership principle of sharing the pain during tough times
  • The methodology for future salary setting should attempt to de-politicize the determination of Board compensation
  • The following counties should be used for comparison, on the basis of general population, unincorporated area population, and budget: Alameda, San Mateo, Sacramento, Fresno, Kern, Ventura, Sonoma, and San Francisco
  • Compensation for other counties should be corrected for geographic cost of living differences.
  • The following elements of compensation should be included; however this may change as the data is refined: base salary, county normal contribution to pension, estimated annual pension benefit at 55 with 8 years of service, county contribution to health/dental coverage, deferred compensation or like benefit, auto allowance, any other cash benefit. Retiree health and life insurance will be excluded but may be considered on a qualitative basis.
  • The Board should be paid at a percentile of market commensurate with County employees, provided there is meaningful data available for such a comparison.
  • A commission should review the Board’s salary every three years.
  • No automatic salary escalator, such as CPI or general employee wage increase, should be applied between BOS salary reviews.

The following additional points will be reconsidered when staff has completed gathering all of the necessary data:
  • On what factors should the compensation comparison be based: salary, salary plus cash benefits, or an estimate of total compensation (which may involve subjective assumptions)?
  • At what percent of median/percentile should the BOS salary/compensation be placed?
  • Should any of the current cash benefits be eliminated and/or rolled into the base salary?
  • Whatever the final outcome of the analysis, should the next adjustment be phased in over time or applied all at once? If phased in, on what schedule?
Referral Update:
At the May 12 meeting, the Committee asked staff to:
  • complete the missing elements of the Peer County Total Compensation Fact Sheet, including the health/dental information and verifying geographic COL adjustment data

The updated Peer County Total Compensation Fact Sheet is attached for the Committee's review.
  • reformat the Peer County Total Compensation Fact Sheet to show the post-employment compensation on the bottom of the chart and to exclude those elements from any mathematical totals.

The updated Peer County Total Compensation Fact Sheet, attached, has been reformatted as requested.
  • gather the 2015 FPPC Form 806 for each peer county and find the average stipend compensation per BOS member for Contra Costa and each peer county.

This information was available only from San Francisco, Ventura, Kern, and Sonoma Counties. Moreover, the counties are using different versions of the Form 806, some of which indicate stipend ranges rather than amounts. Due to time constraints and the limited availability of this information, staff recommends that this element be excluded from the analysis.
  • obtain in writing from the County Administrator his estimate of the gap between Costa Costa County salaries and median market salaries.

Reference memo from County Administrator David Twa, attached at the end of this report, in which he indicates that the majority of County employee wages are in the range of 8-18% below median market wages.
  • determine the County cost for each 1% of general salary increase

The net County General Fund cost for a 1% general wage increase is estimated to be $7.8 million, including retirement and statutory payroll costs, and reduced by offsetting revenue.
  • verify the policy changes for the retiree health benefit and vesting thereof since 2008

According to the County's Employee Benefits Supervisor, the change in Health Care Benefits started with new hires for some bargaining groups as of January 1, 2007. Other bargaining groups have been adopting the change during the past view years.
  • New hires must work at least 15 years with Contra Costa County
  • Start receiving a Pension within 120 days of leaving Contra Costa County and
  • Be enrolled in a Medical and Dental plan at time of retirement to be eligible to receive a subsidy in retirement.

Starting January 1, 2009 and being adopted by other bargaining groups during the past view years:
  • New hires after the adopted date must work 15 years with Contra Costa County,
  • Start receiving a pension within 120 days, and,
  • Be enrolled in a medical and dental plan at time of retirement to maintain access to medical and dental benefits without a County subsidy in retirement.
  • update the BOS Salary Comparison Chart (showing percentiles) for both base salary and total compensation

Reference the Summary Schedule and Supporting Schedules A through E, showing the county comparisons of base salary and of total compensation using different methods of comparison.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
RECEIVE compilation of research data requested by the Committee on May 12 and provide direction to staff on next steps.
Fiscal Impact (if any):
None. This is an informational item only.
Attachments
PEER COUNTY TOTAL COMPENSATION FACT SHEET
SUMMARY SCHEDULE: BOS COMPENSATION ANALYSIS
SCHEDULE A: METHOD 1 USING BASE SALARY
SCHEDULE B: METHOD 1 USING TOTAL COMP
RelocationEssentials.com Data
SCHEDULE C: METHOD 2 USING BASE SALARY
SCHEDULE D: METHOD 2 USING TOTAL COMP
U.S. Census Housing Value Category
SCHEDULE E: METHOD 3 USING CPI-U SF AREA
HOW PEER COUNTIES WERE SELECTED
Attachment X_Mem CAO to CTE re CCC Wages

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