INGLEWOOD – The newly elected Inglewood city treasurer was awarded an exorbitant salary increase during the Dec. 17 city council meeting.
Angela Allen was elected after receiving nearly 56% of the vote during the Nov. 5 election over her opponent Taylor Bryant who was backed by Congresswoman Maxine Waters and former Inglewood treasurer Wanda Brown.
Allen previously served as deputy city clerk.
The salary increase became a point of contention between Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. and District 1 Councilwoman Gloria Gray who refused to vote on the salary ordinance that also increased the salary of the city clerk and several members of the City’s executive team.
Gray said she supported the salary ordinance but refused to vote on the ordinance because she had questions about the salaries of the department heads.
“There’s a difference in the salaries of department heads and I believe they are equal in their responsibilities,” said Gray.
City Manager Mark Weinberg explained the salaries are compared with other cities of similar size with similar duties and responsibilities and also for internal alignment.
“The Public Works Director would receive a higher salary than the Human Resources Director because of the variants of the number of employees they supervise,” said Weinberg.
Gray also questioned the salary increase for the newly elected city treasurer which Weinberg was unable to articulate what the previous salary was.
According to the Inglewood Municipal Code (IMC) the salary for city treasurer is $1414 per month. Under Inglewood Salary Ordinance 23-10 the position was paid $7949 due to the added duties.
“I don’t have the previous salary in front of me but there are occasional adjustments made to the salary which is why it’s in the ordinance,” explained Weinberg.
The position had the duties removed and salary reduced to $1414 when former City Treasurer Wanda Brown started speaking out against the mayor and the city’s finances.
When Gray questioned the justification she was told it was due to the position’s duties being restored.
“The duties were removed and now they are being restored and again in alignment with other positions in the City,” said Weinberg. He did not elaborate on what the treasurer’s position aligned with.
The accompanying staff report didn’t provide any audit findings and/or analysis showing what the salaries were compared to.
The council voted 4-0 to increase the treasurer’s salary from $1414 per month to $10,441 and increase the city clerk’s salary from $9604 to $10,661. The salary ordinance doesn’t detail the city clerk being given any additional duties to justify the salary increase.
Gray refused to vote on the item.
Weinberg was previously asked about the formula for calculating the increases for the city clerk and city treasurer considering the duties primarily include being members of certain committees and the city clerk serving as a department head.
“Neither any of our classified employee position salaries nor electeds’ salaries are established through formula. As is common among governmental agencies, they are based upon an analysis of job duties and responsibilities, and in the context of current market comparison studies,” said Weinberg.