Elected Official Compensation

City Charter Section 601 sets the pay of the Council at $600 a month and allows the Mayor to earn up to $700 a month. This has not been raised for more than twenty years.

Under the charter authorization for "authorized traveling and other expenses while on official duty," each Council member receives $100 a month flat allowance (reduced from $300 a month for the Mayor and $200 a month for Council members as part of balancing the FY 2010/11 budget).

The City does not contribute toward medical, dental, and vision benefits, but Council members may purchase coverage under the City's employee benefit plans. Upon request, the City loans members of the Council a smart phone as well as a laptop and printer to be used for official business.

Council members are authorized to attend conferences, workshops and meetings that directly relate to City business (although out of state travel must be authorized by the City Council in open session). The actual expenses are public records.

In addition to their City Council duties, members of the City Council may also serve as a governing board member or liaison to a variety of local, County and Regional agencies, organizations and projects. The vast majority of these additional assignments are unpaid. In most cases, those assignments are made annually by the Mayor with the approval of the full City Council.

A few of the governing bodies that Ventura Council members participate in provide a "per diem" for each meeting attended (for example, the Ventura County Transportation Commission and the Ventura Regional Sanitation District Board). Where the Mayor or a member of the City Council also serves on the governing board of another agency that pays a per diem to its members, that assignment and the per diem is listed below. These payments are only claimed if a meeting is actually scheduled and the Councilmember attends. Meetings are sometimes skipped or canceled.