By Khalida Sarwari
The San Jose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to impose a 10 percent reduction in salary and benefits for elected officials, including council members, amid a $116 million budget deficit.
The council voted 11-0 to put in place a 10 percent cut in total compensation, including salary, car allowance, medical, dental, retirement and other benefits, said Michelle McGurk, a spokeswoman for Mayor Chuck Reed.
The cuts will affect Reed, council members, the city manager, city clerk, executive director of the redevelopment agency, city auditor and city attorney, McGurk said.
The matter will return to the council for final approval in May.
The council also voted 7-4 to impose a 5 percent cut in the pay and benefits of 50 building inspectors. Council members Kansen Chu, Ash Kalra, Madison Nguyen and Nora Campos dissented.
McGurk said the city will continue to negotiate with the union that represents the workers, the Association of Building, Mechanical, and Electrical Inspectors.
The salary range for top building inspectors and their supervisors is $97,635 to $112,444. McGurk said the city’s last, best and final offer includes a 4.6 percent cut in wages, freezing step increases, and various cuts in benefits.
In a 6-5 vote, the council also approved a reduction in salary for management professionals including deputy city managers, and the staff of the council and mayor. The annual base pay for those employees ranges from about $32,000 to $227,000.
Last week, city officials began sending out layoff, demotion and transfer notices to about 1,300 city employees. After July, the number of city employees could drop from 6,600 to 5,600 employees, McGurk said.
“The tough thing that we are facing today in San Jose is that if we do not get ongoing concessions from our bargaining units we will have to lay off a huge number of city employees,” McGurk said.
She said the measures the city is taking are necessary in the face of a slowly recovering economy.