Yuba supervisor proposes 10 percent pay cut for board

While Yuba County looks at possible budget cuts, one supervisor said there's no reason not to tighten the board's own belts.

Supervisor Andy Vasquez is pushing to put an item on an upcoming meeting agenda for the board to take a 10 percent pay cut, as a show of solidarity with other county employees and departments.

"My philosophy is to lead by example," said Vasquez, who was appointed to the board last year and is running for a full term this year. "To me, it's more than a political issue. It's what's right."

According to Yuba County's personnel department, county supervisors make $4,015 a month, so a 10-percent pay cut would amount to about $4,800 a year for each supervisor. The salary was last increased on July 1, 2007, from $3,854 a month.

But Vasquez pointed out that supervisors' salaries soared during the height of the housing boom, when the county briefly had population growth that was among the highest in the state. The monthly salary was $1,803 at the end of 2004, then went up seven times in the next 21⁄2 years.

"I don't think firefighters, who put their lives on the line every day, got that kind of increase," Vasquez said, adding he already returns 10 percent of his pretax salary to the county's general fund.

At least one other supervisor, Roger Abe, said he'd support such an item if it comes before the board.

"While we're asking employees and staff to be reducing costs, we should be more than willing to do that ourselves," said Abe, who was elected in 2008. "Clearly, we're in a position where we have to look at everything."

Abe pointed out the combined savings from all supervisors taking a pay cut would be enough to pay half the salary of some positions.

The county faces a projected deficit of up to $7 million for 2010-11, and county administrators have not ruled out layoffs as a way to close the gap.

But board Chairwoman Mary Jane Griego said that while no one denies the seriousness of the deficit, there's a proper way to suggest supervisors make less.

Griego, a member of the board's budget committee, said she and fellow committee member Abe have asked county department heads to create a list of recommendations for budget savings, and present it when the county crafts its budget for the next fiscal year.

"I feel like we need to let staff do the job we've asked staff to do," Griego said, adding if staff had a recommendation for the supervisors to cut their pay, she'd have no problem voting to do so.

"The way Andy's brought this up feels untimely to me," she said, adding he's doing so while trying to be elected in June.

Vasquez initially raised the idea of a pay cut during remarks last week at the board's regular meeting.

But County Counsel Angil Morris-Jones said then the board couldn't vote on such an item because state law forbids a governing body from voting on its own pay during an election period.

Vasquez said he could write the agenda item to get around the law by making it only apply to someone who had voted for it, and not taking effect until the person's next term began.

The county counsel's office had not yet issued an opinion on whether a rewritten item as Vasquez described it would past muster.

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com