Loma Linda Council to Review Possible Pay Increase

LOMA LINDA >> After voting to give themselves a pay raise on May 10, the Loma Linda City Council is now looking at re-visiting that decision due to pressure place upon them from the budget committee. At the May 24 meeting, the council approved the 2017 fiscal year budget with a proposed $563,200 deficit that is caused by increasing costs in public safety and operational costs. The budget committee chairman Jay Gallant indicated his disappointment in the council for deciding on a pay raise for themselves with a heavy deficit in monies looming in the next fiscal year for the City’s general fund. With the vote being 3-2 in favor of a pay raise, Mayor Rhodes Rigsby (who was in favor along with Council members Ovidiu Popescu and John Lenart) says, “We may need to revisit and research our previous decision.” City staff has been asked to provide a survey of the compensation plans in other city councils, in the immediate area. Lenart has also said that he would like to hold off implementing a pay raise until the budget committee comes back with some recommendations on how to balance the budget. The increase in salaries would have been from $711 to $1,066 per month. The raises would cost the City an additional $43,000 annually, and even if all the council members decided to waive their raises; it would not make up for the proposed deficit. The budget committee has recommended that the City not use reserves to fill the budget gap and to establish a policy on how the City’s vehicle replacement fund should be used. Revenues and expenses are both looking to increase in the new year. The City will have approximately $3.3 million in unassigned reserves, $1.2 million in reserves for equipment replacement and $5.5 million in reserves for emergencies in the coming fiscal year.