Laguna Beach council sets single base salary for elected city clerk and raises pay to align with peer cities

The City Council moved to make the city clerk's compensation policy more transparent and predictable by setting a single base salary for the elected position, approving a 5 percent base increase for fiscal year 2025–26 and removing annual exceptional performance pay.

Staff told council that, after a salary survey of comparable cities, the council had three options: retain the existing salary and range; increase the city clerk's base by 3 percent; or increase the base by 5 percent. Staff also recommended policy changes to ensure salary review occurs before an election cycle and to remove annual performance-based and one-time exceptional-pay increases for an elected official.

Council voted to adopt policy changes recommended in staff's alternative approach: set a single base salary of $197,545 for the elected city clerk (the adopted FY25–26 base after the 5 percent increase), remove the current salary range in favor of that single base, and amend the city clerk resolution to require a pre-election salary review process. Council also eliminated the process that allowed repeated consideration of exceptional performance pay for the elected clerk.

Council members described the change as a step toward transparency and fairness. Council member Jones said elected officials should not receive exceptional performance pay because council members are not the clerk's direct supervisors; instead, she said, a pre-election review and an optional ad hoc committee of council members would be a fairer, more predictable mechanism. Council agreed to add language that the council may appoint an ad hoc committee during strategic planning to examine clerk compensation prior to an election and bring a recommendation back to council for a vote.

City Clerk Anne Marie O'Connor (spoke during public comment) had urged the 5 percent increase and removal of annual performance bonuses; she argued that setting one public salary improves transparency for candidates and voters.

Outcome and next steps: Council approved the salary adjustment and the resolution changes in a recorded vote. Staff will revise the city clerk resolution to reflect the new fixed salary and the pre-election salary-review process and return the document for adoption.

Speakers quoted: Aggie Nash, Director of Human Resources; Anne Marie O'Connor, City Clerk.