Pay raises approved for Yorba Linda city employees in new three-year contract

New employment contracts and salary increases for some 100 Yorba Linda city employees received unanimous approval by City Council members in a recent “consent calendar” vote.

A “consent calendar” bundles normally routine items on the council's meeting agenda for a single up or down vote. The Oct. 2 consent calendar contained nine items that also included adopting previous meeting minutes, receiving regular reports and reviewing billing payments.

Three-year contracts with salary hikes for each of the three years for miscellaneous, mid-management and management employees replace two-year pacts that expired Sept. 30.

An amendment to the contract for City Manager Mark Pulone, hired in 2013, extends his employment for five years, through Oct. 1, 2023. His yearly salary increases 2.5 percent ($6,025) to $247,047.

Contracts for general (miscellaneous) city workers, covering 67 job titles, and for mid-management employees, affecting 27 positions, include 7 percent pay increases over three years, 2 percent this year and 2.5 percent for each of the following two years.

These employees also receive a boost in deferred compensation, with the city matching up to $50 more monthly.

Management level positions earn a 2.5 percent increase this year and for each of the next two years but not the added deferred compensation match. These are the assistant city manager and community development, finance, library, parks and recreation and public works directors.

This year's pay scale for general employees, beginning Oct. 1, includes five annual steps and ranges from $3,063 to $8,905 monthly, climbing to $3,218 to $9,355 at contract's end by 2021.

This year's pay scale for mid-management, beginning Oct.1, includes five annual steps and ranges from $5,212 to $13,230 monthly, climbing to $5,475 to $13,899 at end of the contract.

And this year's pay scale for the management staff, beginning Oct. 1, including the five annual steps, ranges from $11,672 to $17,146 monthly, climbing to $12,263 to $18,014.

Total costs for the new contracts are estimated at $220,000 this year, $193,000 next year and $196,000 the year after, with 80 percent paid from the city's general fund, 15 percent from library funds and 5 percent from the Landscape Maintenance Assessment District, noted a report by Assistant City Manager Dave Christian.

And in another salary matter, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District trustees have increased the hourly pay for individuals called in as substitutes for secretaries and clerks.

The district has had a shortage of substitute secretaries and clerks because they have been paid $4 less per hour than the surrounding district average, according to a report to trustees from Martha Suarez, administrative secretary for human resources..

The new hourly pay is $21.75 for substitute secretaries and $16.16 for substitute clerks, up from the previous $14 for secretaries and $11 for clerks.