BIG BUCKS FOR TOP BRASS 4 CITY OFFICIALS WIN BACKING FOR 2 RAISES.

Byline: Alexa Haussler Staff Writer

Already among the nation's highest paid city officials, four Los Angeles department heads would get two 5 percent merit pay raises retroactive for up to 19 months under a plan approved by Mayor Richard Riordan and key council members.

The pay raises - on top of 3 percent cost-of-living raises each year - come less than a month after a city report found L.A. city executives are paid significantly more than their counterparts in other major U.S. cities. The report called for freezing their salaries.

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks would get nearly $30,000 in additional pay, raising him to $257,116 plus back pay of more than $20,000 under the plan - a much higher salary than police chiefs in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Department of Water and Power head David Freeman, Chief Librarian Susan Kent and Harbor Chief Larry Keller also would get the 5 percent raises.

``This is clearly way above and beyond staying competitive,'' Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said Monday.

``Apparently the mayor has adopted a policy where he's going to be paying the highest salaries in the nation and I'm not sure that's good for the economic health of the city and I don't think it's healthy for the perception of public service.''

The retroactive merit raises will take effect Feb. 14 unless the City Council acts to block them. In addition, all department heads will get 3 percent cost-of-living increases automatically.

Councilman Michael Feuer, a candidate for city attorney and a member of the committee that approved the raises, said some general managers hadn't received merit pay raises since summer 1999 because of scheduling problems.

He declined comment on the raises as a personnel matter, defending the closed-door process as part of the charter-dictated procedure for evaluating department heads.

But Councilman Joel Wachs, a mayoral candidate, criticized the secrecy of the evaluation committee that included council President John Ferraro and members Ruth Galanter and Mark Ridley-Thomas and called for a public review of the proposed raises.

``The public can and should play a meaningful role in evaluating the performance of our city's general managers,'' he wrote in a letter Monday to the city clerk.

``There are serious problems in the Police Department. Morale is at an all-time low, we can't recruit new people, we are losing the ones we have, and we've got this huge Rampart thing hanging over our head.

``To say that this is absolutely the best possible, I think, is to make a mockery of the system.''

Ridley-Thomas attacked Wachs for making the issue public and said he should have raised concerns earlier in the process.

``He's a little bit late in calling for this when in fact he had every opportunity to do this before now,'' Ridley-Thomas said.

He said the raises were fully justified.

``It was the collective wisdom of all involved that these persons performed in an excellent way and deserve acknowledgment,'' he said.

According to the confidential memo, the four department heads significantly exceeded goals and expectations.

The Executive Employee Relations Committee met Jan. 18 and endorsed the pay hikes.

Deputy Mayor Ben Austin said Riordan endorses paying higher salaries to lure talented people from the public and private sectors.

``In general, the mayor believes in recruiting the best people for the jobs and paying these people competitive rates,'' Austin said.

He said Freeman, who has been credited for helping pull the DWP out of a crippling debt, makes less than half of what his counterparts at private utilities make.

``Freeman has worked with the mayor to make a number of very good decisions, which have saved the taxpayers and ratepayers of Los Angeles a tremendous amount of money,'' Austin said.

IN THE MONEY

Here are the four top Los Angeles city officials recommended for two 5 percent pay raises retroactive for up to 19 months and their new salaries:

--Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, $257,116.

--Department of Water and Power head David Freeman, $241,000.

--Larry Keller, chief of the Harbor Department, $233,063.

--Chief Librarian Susan Kent, $176,311.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: (color) no caption (Bernard Parks)

Box: IN THE MONEY (See text)