COSTLY L.A. COUNTY QUINTET BOARD OF SUPERVISORS THE `FAB FIVE' IN SALARIES, STAFFS, FRINGE BENEFITS.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

They just might be considered Los Angeles County's own version of the ``Fab Five.''

With salaries and benefits that can reach $185,232 a year, each of the five members of the county Board of Supervisors also controls a $3.2 million annual operating budget and a staff of dozens.

Some have luxury vehicles and drivers, cell phones and Blackberries and spend as much as $28,500 a year on travel. Some spend up to $2,200 a year in taxpayer funds to care for their office plants and shrubs.

A supervisor may spend as much as $72,600 a year throwing parties, thousands of dollars more handing out scrolls and plaques at weekly meetings and even $66,500 in a single year for office furnishings.

Supervisors also get $1 million apiece as a discretionary fund to spend as they please on pet projects, community organizations and various events.

Two of them recently installed $2,165 plasma TVs in their offices.

After the supervisors recently cracked down on financial deals for county employees, critics saw some irony.

``It sounds like the Fab Five have quite a deal going for themselves,'' said Ron Roach, spokesman for the California Taxpayers Association.

``And they are not exactly leading by example. It's hypocritical if they are hammering the rank-and-file public employees for messing up for overspending and wasting taxpayer dollars if they are out having lavish parties and enjoying a lifestyle that is usually associated with being the CEO of a powerful company.''

But supervisors say their jobs take a certain amount of political finesse and encompass a massive government operation with a $20 billion budget, 90,000 employees and 39 departments that run everything from the jails and public hospitals to criminal prosecution and care of the poor. They say their expenses are a necessary part of running the largest and most complicated county government in the nation.

``In my district, I have more than 2 million people and 26 cities, so it's a huge job,'' Supervisor Don Knabe said. ``If my district alone were a state, it would be the 17th largest state in the U.S. Our budgets are a little over $3 million. That works out to a little under $1.50 per constituent per year. That's a reasonable amount.

``We are the eyes and ears and representatives of county government. Our people need to have the tools to do the job. It's just like any other business, except we run a constituent business.''

With more than 3,000 county governments in the U.S., tax watchdogs acknowledge that L.A. County's dwarfs most, but they also question why L.A. County supervisors and their staffs enjoy pay and perks that outstrip those in even the largest other counties.

``It seems like a very, very large amount of public resources ... going into the operations of the Board of Supervisors,'' said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

``It's not surprising to me that it's the largest and most expensive board in America.''

With a base pay of $150,696 a year, a supervisor makes slightly more than the Los Angeles City Council member's $149,160 a year -- the highest pay in big U.S. cities.

A supervisor also gets a $7,440 annual transportation allowance or use of a vehicle and a benefits package worth up to $28,632. Money not spent purchasing benefits is paid to a supervisor as taxable cash.

Among the nation's largest counties, only commissioners in Harris County, Texas (the Houston area), come close in annual pay at $134,474 each. San Diego and Orange County supervisors follow at $120,557. Next highest pay is for supervisors in Maricopa County, Ariz. (Phoenix area), $67,800.

An L.A. County supervisor's budget and staff size, from 24 to 40 workers, also top those in the nation's other largest counties.

By contrast, an Orange County supervisor has seven to eight staff members and an annual budget in the $800,000 range. A San Diego County supervisor has an annual budget in the $1 million range and eight to nine staff members.

``To be honest, what was staggering to me was not so much their salaries, but the size of their staffs,'' Coupal said.

And the salary-benefit package for an individual staff member grew by as much as 41 percent from 2002-03 to 2005-06, according to a Daily News analysis of the data. More than two dozen staff members received pay increases of 20 percent or more in that period. Total salary packages for full-time staff members ranged from $41,884 to $174,556 last fiscal year.

``It would appear to me that a series of these increases were egregiously high,'' said Steven B. Frates, a senior fellow at the Rose Institute for State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College.

``These salaries increased much more rapidly -- orders of magnitude more rapidly -- than the personal income of the taxpayers who paid them.''

Miguel Santana, spokesman for Supervisor Gloria Molina -- in whose office 12 of the staff members saw pay-package increases of 20 percent or more -- said the supervisor wants salaries to attract and keep quality employees and noted that many of the pay raises were because of promotions.

``Our salaries are competitive, and they are certainly not the highest on the eighth floor (of the County Hall of Administration), but they are not the lowest,'' Santana said.

``They are in the bottom half. We want to pay people a salary that honors the work they do. ... We think our salaries are fair.''

Some of the supervisors' office perks draw questions.

Supervisors in the nation's other largest counties also routinely enjoy taxpayer-paid vehicles and cell phones, but few appear to have installed flat-screen TVs in their offices as Molina and Knabe have done.

``I've never seen that before,'' said Dick Raycraft, director of management services and budget officer in Harris County, Texas.

Instead of going downstairs to the board meetings, Santana said Molina's staff can now watch the board's meetings in an office conference room and follow breaking news likes fires and disasters.

While Supervisors Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky drive 2000 Buick Park Avenues on loan from the Internal Services Department, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich has two black Cadillac DeVille sedans.

One, a 2004 model leased for $626 a month, is assigned directly to Antonovich, who pays part of the lease. A second, older Cadillac Deville is assigned to his driver and serves as a backup vehicle.

``The supervisor traverses a district of 66 unincorporated areas, 26 cities and nearly 3,000 square miles -- twice the size of Rhode Island and larger than all four other districts combined -- and is dedicated to ensuring that each community is represented at events and functions, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,'' said Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke has a 2006 Chrysler 300 that cost $42,000 and a driver. Knabe leases a 2004 Ford Expedition for $600 a month and also has a driver. Each supervisor also has 13 to 14 vehicles for staff members.

And then thousands of dollars are spent printing community guides alerting residents in unincorporated areas to everything from swimming pool reopenings to trash service consolidations.

Antonovich, whose printing costs rose 22 percent from 2003-04 to $71,380 last fiscal year, also mails packets of news clippings and other reports to hundreds of people in the community.

``The supervisor corresponds with constituents, other elected officials and people in business,'' Bell said. ``That's part of doing business in local government -- to communicate with the people of Los Angeles County.''

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Gloria Molina

(2 -- color) Yvonne B. Burke

(3 -- color) Zev Yaroslavsky

(4 -- color) Don Knabe

(5 -- color) Michael D. Antonovich

Box:

L.A. County Board of Supervisors

SOURCE: Los Angeles County Executive Office

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist