Baldwin Park’s mayor and City Council moved Tuesday night to more than double their own monthly pay, advancing an ordinance that would raise elected officials’ salaries from $600 to $1,600 a month for the first time since 2005.
The increase, which would take effect only after two new council members are elected and results are certified in December, drew a split council that debated whether the city’s strained finances made this the wrong moment.
Councilman Emmanuel Estrada argued the raise is about who can afford to serve.
“There’s this notion that we only serve two meetings a month, and two meetings a month is nothing more than the bare minimum,” he said.
“But there’s also a lot of traveling, going to meetings with stakeholders, meeting with developers or meeting with … stakeholders who have some sort of interest or effort to invest in the city, meeting with our with our elected colleagues at the state and federal levels and even neighboring areas. …
“It is a labor of love, and in theory we all love to be able to do this voluntarily, but in practicality and just in the real world … it costs a lot of money to be here, it costs a lot of money to be involved. It costs us time — time away from our from our families, from our children, from a lot of things.”
The ordinance is governed by state law that the Legislature updated in 2023 to tie compensation limits to a city’s population. With Baldwin Park’s 72,176 residents, the city may now pay up to $1,600 a month. The change would add roughly $60,000 a year in costs once effective.
Councilwoman Alejandra Avila opposed the measure, citing the city’s low budget, pending litigation, and labor contracts that have not yet been negotiated.
“I would love an increase, of course, I’m not going to deny it, but I feel that this is not a good time to increase our salaries because we still have to negotiate with our bargaining units,” Avila said, referring to unionized city employees. We still need to work on the litigation that we have still pending that we don’t know what it’s going to cost the city.”
Mayor Daniel Damian also voted against it, saying the raise is justified but poorly timed.
“I believe that this is very justified,” he said, noting the smaller city of Irwindale pays council members more than Baldwin Park and his agreement with Estrada’s remarks “and the explanation that the city attorney made. I just personally … feel that this is not the right time.”
The ordinance passed on first reading, with Estrada, Councilman Manuel Lozano and Mayor Pro Tem Jean Ayala voting to support the raise.
Lozano, who said he first took office in 1994, said the salary has long been among the lowest in the region.
Ayala called the increase “long overdue”.
Earlier in the meeting, the council approved a slate of routine spending, including a $685,000 construction contract to Emae & Sons Inc. for a futsal court at Barnes Park and more than $82,000 to renew Microsoft 365 licenses from Carahsoft. The council also awarded an $80,000 construction administration contract to La Cañada Design Group Inc. for a City Council Chambers renovation project.
Avila also won consensus to develop a task force focused on massage businesses, which she said often operate with blocked windows and locked doors and have been linked to human trafficking.
The AI platform Civilio assisted this report.