Escondido City Council votes to move forward with raises

The Escondido City Council voted unanimously Dec. 17 to move forward with a plan to give council members a 5% raise for each of the next two years.

The move is expected to return to the council for final approval Jan. 7.

Council members acknowledged that decisions to give themselves raises can be challenging politically.

“This item is not fun,” Mayor Dane White said. “It almost feels kind of slimy when you’re doing this.”

At the same time, they said that they think the raises are an important way that they can ensure that working-class people run for the council and not only those who are retired or independently wealthy.

“We all know how much things have gone up in cost,” Councilmember Christian Garcia said.

Ten percent over two years is the maximum amount a city council is allowed to increase its compensation, according to state law.

Much of the discussion before the vote was about the discrepancy in pay between the mayor and the other council members. Technically, all five of them are considered full-time employees, though the mayor has more duties than other council members.

The way the pay structure is set up in Escondido, each council member, including the mayor, gets a salary and benefits. The mayor also gets additional pay above the council rate. Currently, that comes out to $2,245 a month for the council members and $6,280 each month for the mayor.

The council voted to give the whole council the 10% raise over the next two years but not increase the additional pay the mayor receives. The raises would bring compensation to $2,469 a month for the council members $6,504 for the mayor.

The decision was a way to bring the amount the mayor and council members receive closer together.

Deputy Mayor Consuelo Martinez said the council is underpaid, which can make it difficult to find time for their civic duties as well as full-time employment elsewhere.

“Obviously, we’re not here for the money,” she said. “My council salary doesn’t even cover my rent.”

The council also receives the same benefits as other city employees. The $8,535 cost of benefits such as retirement, medical insurance and vehicle allowance isn’t included in the salary numbers.

There were no public comments about the raises at the December meeting.

If the ordinance on the raises is approved in January, the increases will take effect in December of 2026 and 2027.

The City Council votes on salary increases every two years. The last increase was approved by a 3-2 vote in December 2023 with 6% over two years for the mayor and 7.5% for the council members. The council voted against raises in 2021 and 2019.