Local News in Brief : Study on City Pay Hikes

The Los Angeles City Council voted 12 to 1 Friday to hire an outside firm to study how council members and other city elected officials receive pay raises.

The move followed a report last year from a citizens’ panel recommending higher pay hikes than allowed under the City Charter. The Charter establishes maximum raises of 5% a year.

The outside firm, still to be chosen, would study the salaries currently received by City Council members, the mayor, city attorney and controller and compare them to salaries received by their counterparts in other cities.

One aspect of the salary study will be how the elected officials may receive automatic pay raises similar to those given their counterparts in other jurisdictions. Such a move would remove some of the political heat that the Los Angeles officials face when they try to raise their own wages.

Any change in the system would require a Charter amendment submitted to the voters.