In a first for S.F., elected officials lose pay
By: Joshua Sabatini
August 4, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s top elected leaders will lose thousands of dollars in pay after a City Charter provision kicked in for the first time.
The unprecedented move to slash the pay of 18 elected officials — including Mayor Gavin Newsom and the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors — by 2.45 percent comes after labor unions agreed to wage concessions earlier this year.
The City Charter mandates that when such concessions are made by workers, the Civil Service Commission can “review and amend” the salaries of elected officials “as necessary to achieve comparable cost savings in the affected fiscal year or years.”
To help close a $438 million deficit, workers gave up nearly $61.2 million in compensation for the current fiscal year.
The commission voted Monday to cut the pay of elected officials. It had continued a decision July 20 after expressing concern on how best to come up with the appropriate numbers. There are several labor organizations and they gave up different amounts of savings in separate ways.
A Department of Human Resources report suggested either a 3.5 percent cut or a 2.45 percent reduction.
The 3.5 percent was based on the Municipal Executive Association union, which represents department heads and high-level mangers, giving up five furlough days and a 1.5 percent pay-for-performance bonus. Commissioners, however, opted to go with the 2.45 percent cut instead, which is the “per-capita weighted average” of the labor concessions.
Commissioner E. Dennis Normandy said the 2.45 percent calculation “is the quintessential apples to apples comparison.” The commission unanimously agreed.
That means Newsom, the highest paid elected official, had his salary drop from $252,885 to $246,690, a $6,195 cut. Supervisors’ annual salaries of $98,660 were dealt a $2,417 blow.
