The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors voted to raise its pay this week.
The 2.62% increase takes four members of the board to about $171,309 a year. The chairman, Paul Canepa, will see his salary rise to $191,866.
The raise approved during the board’s meeting Tuesday arrives atop a far heftier increase last year — about 15% — when supervisors revised the system by which they compensated. They decided to set their salaries at a level of 70% of what a Superior Court judge is paid in California. When the judges get a raise, they would get the same percentage.
“Members of the Board of Supervisors do not receive a cost-of-living adjustment like other county employees,” said Hilary Crowley, senior deputy county administrator. “Instead, their annual salary adjustment is tied to the that of state judges, which is why this item was brought forward.”
She added that the level raise of this year’s raise was less than what other non-union county employees received.
The law leaves it to the county’s Human Resources Division to review judge salaries every July 15, then recommend an adjustment to the board. Tuesday’s vote was unanimous and was tucked among a list of consent items before the board. When the new pay protocol — and big pay raise — was brought up a year ago, the board split by a 3-2 vote.
Higher pay for San Joaquin County’s supervisors this year is expected to cost a total of $19,251 and will be “absorbed” into the county budget, staff wrote in a briefing document. “The budget will be monitored throughout the fiscal year and adjusted if needed.”
The new pay levels take effect Aug. 11.
Though board was able to produce a balanced budget for fiscal 2025-2026, counties could face headwinds from cuts at the federal level, especially in regards to health care funding. It’s yet to be seen what effect those cuts will have on San Joaquin County.