County Supervisors May Reject Pay Raise

VENTURA COUNTY — Angered by plans to cut their car allowance, two Ventura County supervisors said Wednesday that they will reject a committee’s pay recommendations that include giving them a 4.5% raise.

Supervisors now receive 65% of a Superior Court judge’s yearly salary. Members of a blue-ribbon salary committee have recommended raising that to 70%.

The increase would raise supervisors’ salaries from $71,897 a year to $75,173. In the future, supervisors would receive a pay increase whenever judges got one.

But along with the raise, the five citizens from throughout Ventura County have also recommended that supervisors receive a decrease in their automotive benefits.

Supervisor Frank Schillo, who commutes to the government center from Thousand Oaks, said that would more than negate the raise. Supervisor John Flynn of Oxnard said he would just about break even.

Under the current pay system, supervisors can either receive a county-leased car at a cost of about $375 a month, or be given $375 a month toward the upkeep of their personal vehicles. Either way, supervisors are additionally reimbursed 31 cents for every mile they drive on county business and from their district offices to the government center.

The committee suggests that supervisors continue receiving either the $375 monthly car allowance or 31 cents per mile for gas, but not both.