Escondido council votes to raise base council pay, freezes additional mayoral stipend

Escondido — The City Council debated and then approved changes to the council and mayoral salary ordinance, voting to increase the base monthly council member salary and to hold the mayor’s additional stipend at its current level.

Jessica Perpetua, the city’s director of human resources, outlined the statutory process the council must follow under recently amended state law (SB 329 and Government Code section references in the staff presentation) and reviewed recent salary history. She noted the city must make findings at two regular council meetings before adopting an ordinance and that any changes take effect when the next council is sworn (the staff memo cited an effective date after the next council is sworn in December 2026).

Council discussion ranged from the difficulty of attracting a broad economic mix of candidates to the optics of pay increases and the difference between base council compensation and the separate mayoral supplement. One proposal on the floor combined a 10% increase to the council base (5% per year for two years) and a freeze of the additional mayoral amount under the municipal code, which council members said would help close the pay gap between the mayor and council members over time without removing the mayor’s extra stipend.

City staff provided pro forma monthly salary numbers for scenarios under discussion. After amendments and discussion, the council adopted the ordinance language moving forward with the base increase and pausing the additional mayoral amount; the meeting record shows the motion passed on a 5–0 vote.

What happens next: Per state law, the council must return to adopt the ordinance at a second hearing (not less than seven days later) with findings supporting the change; any approved changes would take effect after the next council is sworn in December 2026.