'D' in Transparency Spurs City Action

In response to an Orange County Grand Jury report, the city of San Juan Capistrano has implemented changes in the way it reveals employee compensation and pension costs.

The topic was on Tuesday’s City Council meeting agenda, with a letter penned to the presiding judge winning unanimous approval.

In June, the Orange County Grand Jury released a report titled, “Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog-But Why Hide Pension Costs?” It was spurred on by revelations in 2010 that the city of Bell, population roughly the size of San Juan Capistrano, had among the highest paid employees in the nation.

A year before, the grand jury had made a number of recommendations to cities and public agencies that would make salaries and pensions more transparent to the public. The 2011-12 Grand Jury followed up on how well the agencies took those suggestions.

San Juan got two As, for accessibility and information about executive pay, but earned a D for transparency about its employees’ compensation and pensions.

Between investigating and publishing its report, the city updated its website, according to the grand jury.

“The City of San Juan Capistrano reported that they have added employee compensation pages to  their website. It appears quite complete,” an end note added to the report states.

As called for by the grand jury, all cities mentioned in the report need to send a follow-up letter on their progress by Oct.  12.

The changes the city implemented, as detailed in the letter approved at City Council Tuesday, are:

• Employee compensation costs report displayed on the city’s website is consistent with the grand jury’s recommendations
• The city’s fiscal years 2011-12 and 2012-13 employer pension annual contribution rates are posted on the city’s website
• The employee compensation costs report displayed on the city’s website includes actual overtime and on-call pay.