HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 4a - PriceDear Compensation Committee Members:
I regret that I will miss our December 16 meeting and am offering the following
observations and proposals for the group’s consideration.
I owned and operated my own business for almost 40 years. When I retired in 2020, we had
85 employees. I understand that compensation is not just about paychecks, it’s not just
dollars and cents. It’s about how we value people, how we recognize leadership and
aptitude, how we reward effort, and how we attract the best possible talent in an intensely
competitive environment.
We hold our Mayor and City Council to high standards, as we should. We expect
demonstrable leadership skills, deep knowledge, notable ability, solid judgment, and high
integrity. It takes substantial effort to develop and maintain these qualities. The
compensation we provide should match our high standards and expectations.
In that context, I feel that we currently undervalue and undercompensate our elected
leaders. I support annual cost-of-living adjustments, but I also feel strongly that it’s time to
set a new baseline for those COLAs. There is no clear explanation for the current baseline
other than the comparison cities, but with a few exceptions we don’t know how their
baselines were established either. It all seems entirely arbitrary. That some other
municipalities also undervalue and undercompensate their leaders is not a justiflcation for
us to do the same. This where our City can and should lead.
I therefore propose that we establish a clear compensation baseline tied to the Area
Median Income (AMI) and adjusted for the expected level of effort. At this point I’ll note that
there has been some variability in the terminology we’re using to estimate median income
and I think we need to be more precise about these metrics. The staff report for this
meeting refers to the Average Median Income while prior reports and tables refer to the
Area Median Income (sometimes called Median Household Income). While not wanting to
pick nits, these are different metrics with different meanings. The Average Median Income
is a broad and imprecise measure, while the Area Median Income is a more targeted,
speciflc statistic used by HUD and other government agencies. We should be using the
Area Median Income for our calculations. The updated Comparison City Compensation
Survey provided to us in November used the Median Household Income of $66,711,
equivalent to the Area Median Income, and that’s the number we should be using for our
calculations.
I thus propose tying compensation to a SLO AMI of $66,711 and an average time
commitment of 32 hours/week (80%) for Council members. For Mayor, I propose we use a
100% time commitment. This would equate to an annual compensation of $56,369 for
Council and $66,711 for Mayor. We should also keep in mind that the AMI for the City of
SLO is artiflcially depressed by the student population; the Countywide AMI is $93,400. I
would enthusiastically support a baseline set somewhere between those two flgures, but
not lower.
It may be true that City leadership was once viewed as largely voluntary, with perhaps a
token recompense, but we live in different times now. We expect our leaders to treat their
elected office with the same seriousness that they treat their jobs, and there are few
people who work in today’s employment market who are able to accept a job with the kind
of responsibility, expectations, and public exposure of a Mayor or City Councilor for the
level of compensation currently offered. If we are truly committed to the City’s DEI goals
and want to attract the most diverse leadership on equitable terms, then we must
realistically address the flnancial barriers to public service faced by a large and talented
segment of our population. This is especially critical in San Luis Obispo, where the costs of
housing, transportation, food, entertainment, and other necessities have increased far
more than the rate of infiation and are far greater than most other parts of the state.
If we want to broaden the talent pool beyond those who already have the available time
and the flnancial means to serve without meaningful compensation, we should not
hesitate to make a bold recommendation to the City Council for their serious
consideration.
I feel the same regarding beneflts and professional development. We must remain
competitive in these arenas, keep up with rapidly rising costs, and enable our leaders to
interact with others around the state in ways that foster communication, innovation, and
group problem solving.
Finally, I support some minimal compensation for all advisory body members. This
amounts to a minor cost that will begin to acknowledge the vital contributions of these
community members. In lieu of (or in addition to) compensation, we might also consider
offering free childcare or a meals allowance.
To close, I’ll note that our charge is not to balance the City budget, it’s to make the best
recommendation we can to City Council. That said, these increased costs are relatively
minor in light of our overall budget and can be accounted for easily with other adjustments.
Thanks for listening. I’ll see you soon.
Barry Price