Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Wants $77,000 Raise, Advances Oakland City Council Resolution For July 11th
This is totally wild, but it’s true. Here’s the City Administrator’s memo text:
DATE: June 11, 2023
City Administrator Approval
Date:
Jestin Johnson (Jun 30, 2023 01:40 PDT)
Jun 30, 2023
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt An Ordinance Amending The Salary
Schedule Of Ordinance No. 12187 C.M.S. (“Salary Ordinance”) To Increase The Salary Of
The Mayor.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Adoption of the proposed ordinance will ensure the accuracy of the City’s classification plan and
Salary Schedule. This ordinance includes a routine action to modify the salary of the Mayor in
accordance with a Charter-mandated salary adjustment.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
The Salary Ordinance (Ordinance No. 12187 C.M.S.) establishes salaries and classification
titles of positions. The Ordinance is amended regularly to accommodate the City’s evolving
classification needs. Pursuant to the Personnel Manual (Civil Service Rules), Section 3.04,
components of the City’s Classification Plan shall be administered and maintained by the
Personnel Director with the approval of the Civil Service Board.
As applicable regulations or departmental operations change, Human Resources Management
(HRM) staff consults with departments regarding classification needs and mandated changes.
These changes require HRM to amend the Salary Ordinance to add, amend, or delete certain
classifications. The proposed Salary Ordinance Amendment accompanying this report updates
the salary schedule.
The Oakland City Charter Section 300 specifies the formula for setting the salary level for the
Mayor. It states that the City Council shall set the salary as follows:
“The salary shall be set by the Council, which shall be not less than 70% nor more than
90% of the average salaries of City Managers/Chief Executive Officers of California
cities within the three immediate higher and the three immediate lower cities in
population to Oakland. The Mayor’s salary shall be reviewed by the City Council in oddnumbered years and may be adjusted by the Council as provided for herein.”
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
As stated above, the proposed action is recommended to update the Salary Schedule of the
Salary Ordinance.
Citywide Priorities include (1) holistic community safety, (2) housing, economic, and
cultural security, (3) vibrant, sustainable infrastructure, and (4) responsive, trustworthy
government. This is a charter-mandated salary adjustment process for this elected official
position that prescribes as specific methodology for adjusting the salary, which is subject to City
Council review and approval. HRM facilitates the implementation of salary modifications through
the salary ordinance amendment process. The adoption of the proposed ordinance advances
the Citywide Priority of responsive, trustworthy government.
The Rest Of The Memo Is A Link Below; Why Mayor Thao Does Not Warant This Increase
The reason Mayor Thao does not deserve a $77,000 salary increase is for two reasons: 1) Mayor Schaaf did not realize a salary increase of this magnitude over her eight years in office, 2) Mayor Thao has not even served a full year as Mayor of Oakland, 3) Mayor Thao’s Oakland City Charter-directed job is to improve the economic development of Oakland, 4) Mayor Thao has not taken any action to follow her Oakland City Charter-directed job of improving the economic development of Oakland, and 5) Mayor Thao is still under scrutiny of an Oakland Public Ethics Commission investigation, 6) Mayor Thao has realized the loss of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas, 7) City of Oakland staff morale is still dramatically low, 8) Mayor Thao fired popular Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, and 9) The Oakland Police Department is still under the rule of Robert Warshaw, as it has been for two decades. And that’s after Mayor Thao implied that Chief Armstrong was not getting the job done in getting Oakland out of the damaging trap it has been in over too long a time.
Mayor Thao has to do better, and so the increase in salary should be to just $250,000, but with a $50,000 annual bonus tied to performance.
Also Mayor Thao’s intitled to draw overtime compensation, a fact left out of the City Administrator memo.
Stay tuned.
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