This week, the SLO County Board of Supervisors voted to give themselves a 26% raise over the next few years.
Right now, SLO County supervisors make about $90,000 a year. They’re now planned to make about $114,000 a year by 2025.
Tuesday’s vote also restricts SLO County Supervisors from voting on their own salary increases after 2025.
Tami Douglas-Schatz is the County’s Human Resources Director. At the Tuesday Board meeting Douglas-Schatz said if county supervisors aren’t given salary increases, legislative assistants in the county could be making more than them by 2025.
“In 2013 board members made about 19% above their legislative assistants and then today board members are 5.4% above legislative assistants. If your board takes no action today considering the increases scheduled for Legislative Assistant, the two positions will be making about the same in July of 2024,” Douglas-Schatz said.
SLO County Supervisors will receive a salary increase of about $7,000 by July, a roughly $8,000 increase by June 2024, and another $9,000 increase by June 2025.
Douglas-Schatz says SLO County supervisors make less than supervisors in other Central Coast counties like Santa Barbara and Monterey.
“The market says that board members are paid 22% below what our Market pays and it doesn't match the responsibilities of the heavy public policy duties that impact every member of the County of San Luis Obispo,” Douglas-Schatz said.
SLO’s Board of Supervisors last received a pay increase in 2021. Human Resources proposed a pay increase earlier this year, but Supervisors Debbie Arnold, John Peschong and Jimmy Paulding voted against it in a 3-2 vote.
But this time, Paulding ended up voting for the increase along with fellow supervisors Dawn Ortiz-Legg and Bruce Gibson. They said they voted for the increase to make sure the position pays a living wage and attracts the most qualified applicants in the future.
However, Paulding declined to accept a salary increase for himself despite his yes vote. “This is about good governance and the next generation of our leaders, not about benefiting ourselves," he said.
Supervisor John Peschong also declined the raise.
At Tuesday’s meeting, many County residents called Paulding out for changing his vote, including SLO County resident Gary Kirkland.
“In January when this issue came up, I congratulated one of the board members, Supervisor Paulding, for not being a puppet. I wish to withdraw that now I think he is a puppet of one of the other board members and this vote and him bringing this up is evidence of that,” Kirkland said.
Many residents also said they’d like to see the money go towards other county issues like affordable housing and economic development.
You can watch Tuesday’s meeting here.
