Bankruptcy Case Exposes Vallejo City Manager's 42% Pay Hike
Tanner Took $89,000 Raise in 2007 While Calling for Cuts to Vital City Services
For Immediate Release
July 21, 2008
Contact:
Dean Gloster
415-954-4472
Chris Norem
916-502-3994
Vallejo City Manager Joe Tanner confirmed in a legal deposition last week that he took a 42% pay increase totaling $89,000 five months into his job at the same time he was calling for salary reductions for other city employees and dramatic cuts to vital city services.
Five months after being hired at a base pay of $216,000, Tanner renegotiated a deal with then-Mayor Anthony Intintoli to increase Tanner's pay to $305,000. At the time of the renegotiation, Tanner's job duties were not expanded and he had not received any job evaluation to justify the exorbitant raise. Since then, Tanner, along with other Vallejo management employees, received at least one additional pay raise in July of 2007.
"This massive pay increase to Vallejo's top manager, when he was calling for cuts to city services, is part of the disturbing pattern of poor decision making that led to the bankruptcy," said Dean Gloster, attorney at Farella, Braun and Martel for Vallejo's non-management employees. "The bankruptcy is costing the taxpayers millions of dollars in attorneys' fees and higher interest. All the City of Vallejo has to do to get its budget back on track is to accept the $10 million offer from Vallejo's employees to cut their own salaries."
City Manager Tanner's renegotiated contract, signed in May of 2007, was also backdated to effectively give Tanner the raise in March of 2007—two months into his job—on the date Tanner became eligible to re-enroll in the CalPERS public retirement system. The raise will likely allow Tanner to accrue over $1 million dollars in additional pension benefits for decades to come at the expense of Vallejo taxpayers. Under oath at his deposition, Tanner refused to provide additional details about an existing pension he is already receiving in addition to his current over $305,000 in salary.
City Manager Tanner is expected to provide additional testimony this week during a bankruptcy trial, to determine whether Vallejo is even eligible for bankruptcy. Vallejo's workers are seeking dismissal of Vallejo's bankruptcy, and have offered to continue cuts to their own pay, to give up forever two sets of raises due them totaling 14.4%, and to change other work rules to save the city over $10 million and avoid the immense cost of an ongoing bankruptcy. So far, the Vallejo City Council has rejected the offer.
"A city bankruptcy isn't like a war, it's like an earthquake," added Gloster. "Nobody wins. You just hope it doesn't go on too long and that there's something left for vital community services for the people of Vallejo when it ends."
"We would love to work with the city to resolve the budget issues," said Mat Mustard of the Vallejo Police Department. "But we cannot stand by as the City slashes vital services and cuts medical benefits to city retirees, without making other simple changes to get its financial house in order. We're always ready to hammer out a deal to resolve the City's fiscal problems outside of court."
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