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Published November 19th, 2014
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County Supervisor Refuses Her Pay Increase
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| By Nick Marnell |
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Contra Costa County Supervisor Candace Andersen not only voted against a 33 percent pay increase for the county supervisors at the Nov. 4 board meeting, she eschewed taking all but a 4 percent raise for herself. "It's not the appropriate thing to do," she said, as county union members in the audience applauded her nearly every word. "For us to take that large of an increase, while the raises for 9,000 county employees average around 4 percent, seems arrogant, and it is not the way to lead."
The motion to increase the supervisors' salaries passed on a 4-1 vote. The pay hike is the supervisors' first since a cost of living increase in 2007. To keep her increase in line with the raise given to county employees, Andersen confirmed that she will request an adjusted annual salary of $101,379. The adjusted $129,227 salary of the other four supervisors, which is pegged at 70 percent of the salary of superior court judges, still ranks below the pay scale of Alameda County and Santa Clara County supervisors. The supervisors also receive a $600 monthly car allowance, expenses, eligibility for deferred compensation, plus health and retirement benefits.
"I'm not trying to get rich," said Andersen, whose district includes Lamorinda. "I'm doing this job as a public service. And when you serve, you make sacrifices."
But when Andersen exhorted her fellow supervisors to take a leadership role and forfeit a portion of their salaries as she did, Supervisor John Gioia fired back, blasting Andersen for her failure to back previous county revenue generating proposals.
"Leadership involves many things," Gioia later explained. "When we needed to raise revenue to help the fire district, she was not supportive of a parcel tax. She also voted against considering a county sales tax increase." Andersen did not support the failed 2012 Measure Q, a $75 parcel tax to help fund the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. This year she voted against authorizing an opinion poll to determine the likelihood of passage of a countywide sales tax increase. "I would have preferred not to get as involved as I did at the meeting," said Gioia. "But when she challenged us on our leadership, I had to point those things out."
The supervisors' raises will take effect Jan. 5.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA