CITY COUNCIL VOTES 3-2 FOR PAY RAISES HIKES OK'D DESPITE WOES.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

BURBANK - City Council members voted 3-2 Tuesday to increase their salaries 2.5 percent and also gave raises to city management staff and other employees.

The salaries will go from $951 to $975 a month for the council members, who did not get a raise between 1998 and May 2001, officials said.

``We're getting so far behind, that at some point it will just be disgraceful,'' said Mayor Stacey Murphy.

But Councilman Todd Campbell said the council members should not get raises since the city is going through tough economic times.

``I would hate to see (increases) in pool fees, for example, over the summer because we can't make ends meet,'' Campbell said.

Council members Jef Vander Borght and Marsha Ramos voted for the increase, along with the mayor. They said the council owes it to future council members to not let salaries fall too low.

The City Council has given raises to city employees during past financial troubles, said Murphy.

Members of the council also get a car allowance on top of their salaries. The mayor gets $185 a month in car allowance, the vice mayor $145 and the other members get $125.

The council also voted unanimously to pay for increases for city management staff and other employees.

The raises amount to a 2.5 percent increase in city expenditures, officials said.

The city will pay $583,700 to increase the salaries of city employees.

Most of that will pay for a cost-of-living adjustment, said Judie Sarquiz, management services director.

Money was also set aside to bring salaries closer to parity for employees making less than their counterparts in other cities, as well as to provide up to $105 a month in additional health coverage to some employees, she said.

The city also paid $181,000 to increase the pay of city management staff. Most of that will go exclusively toward bringing the management staffers' salaries closer to the average of those in other cities, Sarquiz said.

The City Council also voted to increase the amount both the city manager and the city attorney could receive.

City Manager Mary Alvord makes $12,650 a month, Sarquiz said. After today's council vote, Alvord could be paid up to $15,086, and the council will need to set her exact salary at a later date.

Burbank City Attorney Dennis Barlow makes $13,197, and following today's council vote his new maximum pay would be $13,527, Sarquiz said. As for the city attorney, the City Council will have to set his exact pay after a performance evaluation.

The police chief and police captains opted to put their increase, which is a 3.5 percent increase in city expenses, toward their retirement, as the department's officers did with their increase last year.