By Mike Harris Thursday, September 19th, 2024

The Ventura County Taxpayers Association is alleging that the city of Oxnard had no legal justification to give its street sweepers an enormous pay raise to almost $200,000 annually in salary and benefits.

“We’re at a loss as to why the city of Oxnard would so dramatically increase the cost of this service for apparently no reason,” John Barrick, a member of the nonprofit’s board, told the Business Times Sept. 5.

Oxnard officials have yet to comment on the association’s allegations.

Deputy City Manager Katie Casey said on Sept. 4 that the city is waiting for a letter from the California Department of Industrial Relations addressing the issue. 

She said there is no timetable for receiving the letter.

The Department of Industrial Relations is the administrative body that regulates public works projects in California.

The Taxpayers Association is an advocacy group that promotes the wise use of public funds, opposes waste, advises public officials regarding issues of concern to taxpayers and recommends positions that will best serve taxpayers’ interests.

Barrick said in a post on the association’s website that the city’s decision to start paying its street sweepers nearly $200,000 annually in salary and benefits without justification “will needlessly cost residents millions of dollars the city cannot afford to spend.

“To put this in perspective, this is considerably more than the city pays police officers, firefighters, paramedics, nurses, teachers, and most of its city attorneys,” Barrick said. 

The Oxnard City Council in September 2023 unanimously approved paying the city’s street sweepers the prevailing wage of $95.25 per hour starting July 1, 2024, he said. The pay range for street sweepers in other cities is approximately $21-$28 per hour, according to the association. 

“No other city in Ventura County comes close to paying its street sweepers what Oxnard pays,” Barrick said. 

Oxnard contracts with Sweeping Corporation of America of California for street sweeping services. The steep pay hike was authorized as part of the City Council approving a second amendment to the city’s agreement with the company.

In a report to the City Council for its Sept. 19, 2023 meeting, Oxnard Public Works Director Michael Wolfe said that California Assembly Bill 1886, “passed by the state legislature in August 2022,” expanded the definition of public works to include street sweeping.

The bill imposed a state-mandated program, which requires the payment of prevailing wage for street sweeping, Wolfe said.

The state industrial relations published the prevailing wage rate of $91.25 per hour on July 1, 2023, which was increased to $95.25 on July 1 Wolfe wrote. Prior to AB 1886, the average rate for a street sweeper driver ranged between $25-$35 an hour, he wrote.

But Barrick said there was one problem with Wolfe’s analysis: AB 1886 was never enacted into law. It died in the State Senate.

“The legislature failed to pass AB 1886 a full year before the city of Oxnard’s officials decided to pay its street sweepers the prevailing wage,” Barrick said.

“The city was inept in that they never did their research,” he said. “They never checked to see if the law had passed.”

Barrick and Ryan Grau, the association’s executive director, addressed the issue at the June 18, 2024 Oxnard City Council meeting. Afterwards, Brian Yanez, the city’s assistant public works director, conceded to them that citing AB 1886 as the authority for the steep salary increase was a mistake, Barrick said. 

City Manager Alex Nguyen made the same concession at the council’s June 27 meeting, Barrick said.

Yanez told Barrick and Grau that the actual authority for the dramatic pay hike was a “decision” in a letter from the Department of Industrial Relations to the City of Elk Grove, Barrick said.

The department determined that, in its opinion, Elk Grove should pay street sweepers the prevailing wage, Barrick said.

However, the department is an administrative body only, and there was no authority granted to it by the state legislature to classify street sweepers statewide as being eligible to be paid the prevailing wage, Barrick said.

Therefore, the department’s “decision” was actually a non-binding opinion that only applied to Elk Grove because Elk Grove had sought the opinion and agreed to abide by it, he said.

“Thus, Oxnard city leaders decided to drastically pay street sweepers far more than the industry average, falsely telling citizens the law required them to do so,” Barrick said.

City officials have since made the problem worse, he said. 

At the June 27 council meeting, Nguyen announced that city officials had contacted the Department of Industrial Relations to clarify the issue, Barrick said. In doing so, the officials have now legally bound themselves to the department’s authority by asking for its opinion.

“In other words, once the DIR formally notifies Oxnard city officials of its position, Oxnard will be legally required to pay its street sweepers the prevailing wage,” Barrick said.

He said the taxpayers association has asked Nguyen what his plans are to correct the problem. “And at the time, he didn’t have any,” Barrick said.