County executive officer may get 12 percent raise

July 29--Ventura, Calif. -- County Executive Officer Mike Powers' pay is set to go up $30,000 to almost $270,000 if the Board of Supervisors approves a new contract Tuesday.

Powers, 51, of Ventura, is being recommended for a 7 percent increase in base pay by board Chairman Steve Bennett. Under a package of raises the board already approved for county managers, he is scheduled to get an additional 5 percent by August 2015.

Powers received a positive evaluation from the board and deserves the boost, Bennett said last week.

"I believe the board really feels we have had superior performance from him, so it's our way of trying to recognize that," Bennett said.

The five-year contract would replace the one Powers signed in 2011, when he took over as top administrator in county government. As county executive officer, he oversees a budget of $1.9 billion and a workforce of more than 8,000 delivering law enforcement, public assistance, public works, health care and other services.

An increase in Powers' base pay would be his first since he assumed the job, officials said.

Bennett tied his recommendation to Powers' performance, not comparisons showing the executive makes less than his counterparts in other California counties.

Bennett credited Powers with guiding the county through years marked by pension funding issues, the national health care overhaul and a corrections reorganization that shifted some responsibilities from state prisons to counties.

"It's been a huge transition," Bennett said. "Our fiscal house has stayed strong."

Powers has asked the board to delay the start of his raise until market-based salary increases for other employees begin. The board should receive a report on those increases by Sept. 9, Assistant Executive Officer Matt Carroll said.

Bennett said surveys for all employees, including Powers, were conducted to determine which workers were paid significantly under market.

Powers' total compensation was reported as 26 percent under the average for county executives in Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo and Santa Barbara counties.

He ranked more than 40 percent under the norm for executives leading counties with hospitals, Carroll said.

Powers has declined any additional raises based on those surveys, Carroll said.

The terms of Powers' contract for benefits and termination are generally the same as in the current one, including an auto allowance of $600 a month and a contribution to his 401(k) plan equivalent to 5 percent of salary.

The board can terminate his services without cause at any time but would have to give him six months' severance unless he gets another executive-level job. He can end his employment by giving two months' written notice.

Powers made about $287,000 in gross salary last year, a figure that included base pay, auto allowance, a bonus for advanced degrees, a cash payment for health insurance and redemption of unused personal leave. Total compensation, which includes retirement benefits, topped $327,000.

The contract Powers and the board signed in 2011 called for base pay of $228,000. Payroll records show that was about the same as that of his predecessor, Marty Robinson.

Effective this month, Powers began receiving an additional $11,000 annually to replace contributions the county had been paying into his retirement and that he will pay instead.

The trade allows Powers to pay half the ongoing cost of his pension, a goal set for public employees in Gov. Jerry Brown's pension overhaul. The trade is cost-neutral and will not change Powers' total compensation, Carroll said.

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