San Clemente, California, approved pay increases last week for certain hourly, part-time city employees in hopes of attracting and retaining highly qualified workers.
The San Clemente City Council April 4 voted 4–0, with Councilman Mark Enmeier absent, to raise hourly wages for positions including ocean and pool lifeguards, park rangers, interns, cable TV technicians, and recreational employees. The changes will be effective April 17, according to city staff.
“We have had a very difficult time finding ocean lifeguards, parks and recreation workers, and other part-time staff, so I do think this is necessary for us to be competitive in the marketplace,” Hall told the council during the Tuesday meeting.
The council’s decision followed a presentation given at the meeting by consulting firm MGT Consulting, which was hired by the city to conduct a study of San Clemente’s job classification and compensation in October 2022 to analyze its ability to attract and retain employees. The study also compared the pay and benefits of city employees with other cities in South Orange County and North San Diego, an MGT representative said during the meeting.
The benefits reviewed include paid sick leave, holidays, vacation leave, insurance opportunities, and retirement and pension contributions.
The hourly wage for an “Ocean Lifeguard” earning between $18.24 to $22.17 will be raised by about 5 percent—ranging between $19.15 and $23.28. For instance, a lifeguard previously earning $20.11 will be paid $21.11 an hour. A “Park Ranger” will receive a larger boost of about 22 percent, from $15.75 to $18.24 an hour minimum.
According to City Manager Andy Hall, the city has enough budget to cover any pay increases for the current employees through the rest of the year and would include those additional costs in future budgets.
City staff estimated these pay increases will add $150,000 to the city’s budget each year.
The councilors have been discussing concerns with job vacancies for some time and are hoping this may resolve some of those issues.
“We pound our chest and talk about how we’re beating the budget, but we’re beating the budget by vacancies,not by working smarter,” Councilman Gene James said during the meeting.
Reportedly 84 percent of the current 180 hourly, part-time city employees live in the city.
Some positions were also deemed unnecessary by the consulting company in its report and will be eliminated, including certain office clerks, park monitors, and pool lifeguard trainees.
