THE STOCKTON CITY COUNCIL recently granted itself a 30% pay raise, and the move isn’t getting a lot of applause from residents.
“Is this what I expect? Yes. Is it right? No,” said Evlyn Velez as she walked to her car Thursday at Weberstown Mall.
After a year that has seen turmoil in local government and myriad calls for investigations, the council voted 4-3 at its April 28 meeting to boost its members’ salaries from the current $30,833 a year to $40,000 starting in 2027.
It was a raise that that the chair of the city’s Salary Setting Commission, 209 Times founder Motecuzoma Sanchez, called “generous” but fair during a March meeting. He joined others on the commission in unanimously recommending approval of the pay increase at the time, Sanchez said it was justified based on councilmembers’ responsibilities and comparisons to pay scales in other cities.
Reached for comment Friday, Sanchez had nothing further to say about the pay raise recommendation.
Mayor Christina Fugazi — whose $97,107 annual salary is unaffected by the change — said serving on the body amounts to a seven-day-a-week job in positions that are supposed to be part time. Councilmembers tackle emails, make appearances at community gatherings, solve problems and go to meetings.
“All I am saying is if people don’t think that this council is doing 40 hours a week, they are sadly mistaken,” Fugazi said. She voted in favor of the pay bump, along with Councilmembers Brando Villapudua, Michele Padilla and Mariela Ponce.
The current base pay for councilmembers is 39% of the median income of other Stocktonians, which sits at $79,907.
Vice Mayor Jason Lee agreed that the council works hard and does deserve a pay increase, but he said it was inappropriate to pass one when the city still has not approved a labor contract with the police force. His motion to delay the vote was shot down.
“I think to approve a raise for us while we haven’t finalized their contracts would be disastrous for us in the eyes of the public, the eyes of our staff and in terms of responsibility to them,” Lee said. He was joined in opposition by Councilmembers Michael Blower and Mario Enríquez.
‘People ought to vote on it’
Residents who appeared at Tuesday’s City Council meeting and those questioned by a Stocktonia reporter at the mall were also not in favor of a raise for Stockton’s elected leaders.
“I think it should be on the ballot,” said Tom Alfieri during public comments at the meeting. “I think people ought to vote on it, and if they did, it wouldn’t pass.”
Another speaker, Yolanda Amen, noted that Stockton faces major concerns, such as homelessness and public safety. To vote for pay increases now raises questions about the council’s priorities; moreover, she said, there are also issues of basic fairness and meritocracy.
“Raises should be grounded in measurable performance, not automatic increases or comparisons alone,” Amen said.
Outside City Hall, shoppers at the Weberstown Mall were even less kind.
“Raises should be grounded in measurable performance, not automatic increases or comparisons alone.”
Yolanda Amen, Stockton resident
Velez, 29, said the pay raises smack of a world in which everyone is out for their own personal gain. She said public money going toward council raises could be better spent elsewhere.
“Stockton isn’t the best city to begin with — so much violence — and I feel like they could use that money toward preventing those things.” Her suggestion: “Maybe more funding for the youth to get them out of trouble.”
Councilmembers’ salaries are supported by the city’s general fund, which includes revenue from property taxes, sales taxes and business taxes. In its March report, the Salary Setting Commission noted that any increase in City Council salaries would result in a corresponding decrease in the general fund balance, which would take away resources potentially available for other uses.
Another mallgoer, Jakob Hester, 21, said he has lived in Stockton for two years and thinks “the council is pretty corrupt.” As a result, he added, “I expect them to do stuff for themselves.”
And Jessica Ocha, also 21, of Lodi, echoed the belief of corruption in Stockton’s government. Instead of more money for council salaries, the city should expand funding for mental health and inmate rehabilitation, she said.
Comparing to other California cities
In making its recommendation, the city’s Salary Setting Commission found that councilmembers spend an average of 243 hours a year — the equivalent of about six 40-hour work weeks — in meetings of all sorts.
In comparing Stockton to other cities, the salary commission found the new pay rate would be similar to the $43,548 base pay of councilmembers in Riverside and almost equal to San Bernardino, which has 100,000 fewer residents.
Stocktonia did its own research.
Stockton is California’s 11th most populous city, with 322,326 residents as of 2024, according to California Demographics, a private website that bases its estimates on U.S. Census data.
The 10th largest city in California, Anaheim, offered a base pay of $18,600 to its councilmembers that year, according to the state controller’s office. Elsewhere, Long Beach, which has 133,222 more residents than Stockton, had a base salary of $45,128.
And other nearby cities, including Sacramento and Oakland, had far higher base salaries for their councilmembers, with the former paying a base of $95,287 and the later offering $122,314.
While Stockton’s pay increase for its councilmembers may not have been particularly popular, it could have been even steeper. Alongside the proposal for a 30% raise, which ultimately was what was approved, the Salary Setting Commission also included a study looking at a 46% pay increase. That amount would have given councilmembers a $45,000 annual salary.
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.