§ 703. COMPENSATION FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS.

(a)  Compensation and Reimbursement. The Mayor and each member of the Council shall be paid as compensation for his or her services as a member of the Council for each calendar month during which he or she is a member of the Council a monthly salary together with appropriate benefits which shall be established by ordinance only after the Citizen's Salary Setting Commission has made a written recommendation for compensation pursuant to the strict limits of the section, such written recommendation has been published for review pursuant to the requirements of this section, and the mandated public hearings required by this section have been held on the recommendation.

The Mayor and members of the Council shall also receive reimbursement for expenses incurred while performing official duties of their office only so long as evidence of such expenses incurred is presented to the City in the manner prescribed for all other employees of the City.

No compensation or reimbursement shall be established for any member of the Council, including the Mayor, except as provided in this Section.

(b)  Citizen's Salary Setting Commission. There shall be established a Citizen's Salary Setting Commission, hereinafter "Commission," whose function shall be to recommend the compensation it deems appropriate for the Mayor and members of the Council. This Commission shall meet between March 1st and April 30th of every even-numbered year.

The Citizen's Salary Setting Commission shall consist of five (5) qualified electors residing within the City and shall be appointed by the City Council pursuant to the provisions below:

(A) Strong consideration shall be given to composing the Commission of:

(i) a retired Stanislaus County judge as chairperson;

(ii) one (1) member from a bona fide local taxpayer's association with tax exempt status under the relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code;

(iii) one (1) member from a bona fide local nonpartisan political organization, with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, dedicated to encouraging informed and active participation in government;

(iv) one (1) member from, a former Civil Grand Jury who has served in that role within in the previous five (5) years;

(v) additional members who have demonstrated civic involvement and a capacity to serve in an honest, independent, and impartial fashion.

(B) No member of the Commission shall be a relative by blood or marriage within the third degree of the Mayor, a member of the Council, any Charter officer, or any department head or deputy department head.

(C) No member of the Commission shall be an employee of the City nor any bargaining unit for employees of the City, nor be a person who receives compensation from the City or from bargaining units of the City in any manner, including retirement benefits.

(D) No member of the Commission shall be a lobbyist or other person with business before the City that represents an economic interest in excess of the limit for material financial effect as established by local ordinance for the time periods established by local ordinance.

(E) In all other respects, the members of the Commission shall be chosen pursuant to the provisions of this Charter.

(F) Members of the Commission shall serve without compensation.

Except as provided herein below, the regular term of office of each member of the Commission shall be four (4) years. The initial five (5) members of the Commission shall be appointed during the month of March 2008. Two of the members so appointed shall be appointed for a term expiring on December 31, 2010. Three (3) of the members, including the initial chairperson, so appointed shall be appointed for a term expiring on December 31, 2012. Commencing in December 2010, new appointments shall be made during the month of December of each even-numbered year to fill the offices of the members whose terms are expiring at the end of such even-numbered years. Such appointments shall be for regular terms of four (4) years commencing on the first day of January of the following odd-numbered year and expiring on the thirty-first day of December of the second even-numbered year thereafter.

No Commission member may serve for more than two (2) terms. A Commission member may be removed from office at any time for misconduct, inefficiency or willful neglect in the performance of the duties of his or her office providing the Council first states in writing the reasons for such removal and gives such member an opportunity to be heard before the Council in his or her own defense. No tax dollars shall be expended on behalf of a Commission member for such defense. If a vacancy occurs before the expiration of a member's term, the Council shall appoint a qualified person to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term of such member.

(c)  Salary Limitations and Penalties. The salary of the Mayor shall not be more than fifty percent (50%) of the amount of the salary of a Judge of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County.

The salary of a Councilmember shall not be more than fifty percent (50%) of the median family income for the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area as reported by the United States Census Bureau. The salary of each Councilmember shall be the same.

Any appropriate benefits established under this provision may not include retirement or pension benefits of any sort.

No recommendation shall be made by the Commission except upon the affirmative vote of three (3) members of the Commission.

No recommendations may be made in odd-numbered years. The recommendation of the Commission will be made to the Council by April 30th of every even-numbered year to be effective for a two-year period commencing not before July 1 of that even numbered year. Failure of the Commission to make a recommendation in any even numbered year within the prescribed time shall be deemed to be a recommendation that no changes be made to existing compensation levels.

Any monthly salary shall be reduced by one-fourth for each regular meeting of the Council not attended by a councilmember each month, unless absent on official duty with the consent of the Council.

(d)  Process to Set Compensation. Each recommendation by the Commission, together with the reasons for the recommendation, shall be made in writing by the Commission.

Before any such recommendation is provided to the Council, a draft recommendation shall be made available to the public and the Commission shall hold at least two public hearings on the matter before it adopts its final recommendation.

When such final recommendation has been submitted to the Council, it shall not thereafter be amended by the Commission.

Upon receiving the final recommendation from the Commission, the Council may adopt the compensation as recommended by the Commission or may adopt compensation in some lower amount, but in no case may adopt compensation in some higher amount. The Council may only adopt all such compensation by ordinance and after a public hearing of which legal notice is published in a newspaper of general circulation within the City at least twenty (20) days prior to said hearing. Salaries established by ordinance adopted pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall remain in effect until amended by a subsequent ordinance adopted pursuant to the provisions of this Section. The compensation being paid to Councilmembers as of the effective date of this Section shall continue until any subsequent compensation is established pursuant to the requirements of this Section.

(e) Subject to Referendum.

Any final decision by the Council on compensation under this Section shall be subject to the referendum provisions of the Charter.

(As amended April 29, 1971, November 4, 1980, and February 5, 2008)