Pay Hike Is Proposed for Johnston

Ventura County government’s top administrator would get a raise of nearly 6% under a proposal that goes to the Board of Supervisors today.

County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston earns $222,000, the highest county salary and $23,000 more than the next highest. The $13,000 annual increase would bring Johnston’s pay to $235,000.

Supervisors say Johnston, 63, has done an exemplary job reining in costs and balancing the county’s $1.6-billion budget in the five years he has been on the job.

“He really has helped turn the county around financially and has restored trust in county government,” board Chairwoman Linda Parks said.

Parks noted that she had opposed a 10.5% raise given to Johnston on a split vote last year as the county was still weathering financial hard times. She’s inclined to approve the current roughly 6% increase, she said, but wants to hear what other supervisors and the public have to say before making up her mind.

“I just have a real open mind on this one,” she said. “I just want to make sure it’s within reason.”

During Johnston’s tenure, the county has gone from cutting programs and laying off employees to financial stability, officials said. Supervisors credit Johnston’s insistence that department managers operate within the county’s means, along with higher property tax revenue, with easing the budget crunch.

Things have turned around so much that supervisors last week approved a budget that manages to restore some jail staff positions and beds for the mentally ill, while rebuilding depleted reserves.

“He has really driven sound budget policies like we asked him to do,” Supervisor Steve Bennett said. “And he has a tremendous ability to build teamwork and ownership on the part of county employees.”

When Johnston stepped into the job in March 2001, he was making $167,000 a year, plus benefits. He received annual cost-of-living adjustments but no change in pay rate until March 2005, when the county was beginning to emerge from financial hardship.

If the raise is approved, Johnston’s base salary will have increased 41% over five years.

The county has 7,000 employees. After Johnston, the next highest paid employee is Sheriff Bob Brooks, who makes $199,000.

Bennett said Johnston has earned the raise, and that his starting salary was low, compared with counties of similar size.

The board’s goal is to pay government employees salaries in the middle range for comparable jobs in other counties, he said.

Not everyone favors the proposed increase.

Supervisor John Flynn, who has been at loggerheads with Johnston on a number of issues in recent years, said he would probably vote against the raise.

Flynn said he had no quarrel with Johnston’s performance, acknowledging that the administrator had done a good job overall -- even though the two have disagreed on issues involving the Channel Islands Harbor, which the county owns.

“I have a hard time with this much money,” Flynn said. “It’s almost a quarter of a million dollars. No one needs that much money.”

The board will also review salary increases for other job classifications, including assistant county executive officers, and lawyers in the public defender’s office and child services.

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Compensation

These are the top 10 salaries of Ventura County officials, starting with the highest:

County executive officer: $222,000

Sheriff: $199,000

Health Care Agency director: $162,000 to $199,000

Chief medical examiner: $122,000 to $197,000

Medical director: $109,000 to $190,000

Behavioral Health medical director: $154,000 to $188,000

County counsel: $182,000

District attorney: $182,000

Public defender: $182,000

Undersheriff: $106,000 to $180,000

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Sources: Ventura County Human Resources Department; Ventura County auditor-controller