2 More City Raises Called Improper

Adding to an error that Mayor Richard Riordan has already admitted, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office has concluded that Riordan in recent weeks improperly gave raises not only to Chief Bernard C. Parks but also to two other top officials.

City Atty. James K. Hahn was preparing to issue a ruling on the matter this week when Riordan’s chief of staff, Deputy Mayor Kelly Martin, found out about the probe and reversed Parks’ raise--which had brought his salary to $257,116.

Hahn said Thursday that he believes Riordan also erred when he gave 5% merit pay raises to Department of Water and Power head David Freeman and Harbor Department manager Larry Keller, who report directly to civilian oversight commissions. Under the new City Charter, Hahn said, the commissioners--and not the mayor--are responsible for approving pay hikes for the general managers.

The questions being raised by Hahn are doubly embarrassing for Riordan. He must rescind raises that were controversial in the first place, and he is being accused of misinterpreting or ignoring the charter that his staff helped write.

Hahn is expected to issue a letter today on his findings to Riordan and the City Council. He said he also is probing whether Riordan improperly delegated to Martin the task of handing the raises.

Under the new charter enacted in July, it is the responsibility of the mayor--and not his staff--to review department managers and to sign off on the raises, Hahn said. Martin reviewed the general managers and granted raises averaging 4% to 5% to 18 of the city’s 36 top managers, boosting the median salary to nearly $164,000. All executives received an additional cost of living increase of 2%.

A spokesman for Riordan said Thursday that the mayor’s office is “looking forward to working with the city attorney to sort this out.”

“It’s a complicated issue that is a result of transferring from one City Charter to the next,” said Deputy Mayor Ben Austin. “If it is determined that the process was questionable in which other city managers were given raises, we will revisit it.”

During the lengthy debates over charter revisions, Riordan’s staff vigorously advocated for the mayor’s ability to hand out raises to all department managers, including the eight that report directly to civilian commissions. Ultimately, Riordan lost that fight.

“Section 508 of the charter is as clear as can be as to which general managers the mayor evaluates and sets salaries for,” said USC law professor Erwin C. Chemerinsky, who helped the city revise the charter. “The mayor’s representatives were part of the negotiations. They knew the restrictions. They just mistakenly assumed the power they didn’t have.”

Late Wednesday, Riordan’s office announced it was rescinding the raise recently given to Parks after realizing it had no authority under the charter to boost the chief’s pay.

“After reviewing . . . the Charter, I realized that I had incorrectly advised the mayor with respect to its applicability to the Chief of Police,” Deputy Mayor Kelly Martin wrote in a letter to City Controller Rick Tuttle late Wednesday.

Riordan approved two pay increases for Parks, making him the highest-paid official in the city. The mayor also issued a $16,000-a-year boost to Freeman--bringing his salary to $241,227. He increased the salary of the head of the Harbor Department from $206,466 to $233,063.

Hahn said he believes the mayor’s charter violations can be easily fixed.

The Police Commission and the Harbor Commission are expected to vote on the proposed raises in the coming weeks.

“We were surprised that it happened this way, but certainly it can be rectified,” Hahn said.

Even before the raises were handed out, Los Angeles city executives were among the most richly compensated public officials in the country, according to a recently released city study.

Riordan and other city leaders have defended the large salaries, saying money is needed to lure top managers from private companies.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said Thursday that he was dismayed to hear of Hahn’s findings.

“It’s my view that the least we can expect is that the mayor’s office would know what they are doing,” Ridley-Thomas said. “They have to be careful about knowing if they are playing by the proper rules.”