COUNCIL TOLD MAYOR RULES ON CHIEF'S PAY $30,000 RAISE DONE DEAL UNDER CHARTER, ADVISER SAYS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Mayor Richard Riordan's decision to give retroactive pay raises to four Los Angeles department heads - including an annual increase of nearly $30,000 for Police Chief Bernard C. Parks - drew protests from City Council members Tuesday.

In signaling their frustration with the system taking effect under the new City Charter, council members complained about the mayor's use of it but were told they lack authority to overturn the increases.

``I warned you the chickens would come home to roost under this charter,'' Councilman Hal Bernson said. ``This concentrates too much power in one person's hands.''

Councilman Joel Wachs, a candidate for mayor, had wanted the council to try to block or delay the raises for the police chief, Department of Water and Power general manager David Freeman, Chief Librarian Susan Kent and the head of the Harbor Department, Larry Keller.

For each, Riordan had recommended and the Executive Employee Relations Commission had approved retroactive pay increases of 5 percent for both 1998 and 1999 on top of 3 percent cost-of-living increases.

The problem for council members, Chief Assistant City Attorney Pete Echeverria said, is that the city is operating under the new voter-approved charter and they lack power to overturn the mayor's decision.

``I don't agree with that,'' Wachs said. ``If these were (decisions) dealing with 1998 and 1999, the old charter should take effect. There is no way anyone can tell me that this police chief, with all the problems the Police Department has been having, deserves this kind of raise.

``I think it is something we have to take a closer look at and urge the mayor to reconsider his decision.''

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said the problem is Riordan's.

``If people want to look for someone who is responsible for this and all the problems we have in the Police Department, it is the person who for 7 1/2 years has advanced an agenda of expanding the Police Department,'' Ridley-Thomas said.

``Some concerns have been voiced over the concentration of power in the hands of the chief executive, where general managers are concerned.''

The pay raises - which made Parks the highest paid police chief in the nation at an annual salary of $257,116 - have drawn protests from various officials and taxpayer groups. The action also put Freeman's salary at $241,000 a year, Keller's at $233,063 and Kent's at $176,311 - also making each of them the nation's highest paid municipal official of the kind.

Riordan has defended the increases as necessary to keep executives working for the city and reward them for success.