Lawsuit filed to strip council benefits

Jeffrey Libby

Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

Five Boulder City residents have filed a lawsuit seeking to strip Boulder City Council members of automobile and health benefits in accordance with a ballot question approved by voters in September.

In a five-page complaint filed Tuesday in District Court, former Boulder City Councilman Bill Smith and four other residents argue that the city should have stopped paying monthly allotments of $950 in benefit pay immediately after the Sept. 3 vote.

Instead, the city has continued cutting checks to Mayor Bob Ferraro and Councilmen Mike Pacini and Bryan Nix. Councilwoman Andrea Anderson and former Councilman Joe Hardy stopped accepting benefits shortly after the vote, saying that the electorate had spoken and it was the right thing for them to do.

"Everyone, including the council and the voters, knew what they were voting for -- an immediate end to the benefits. How could it have been any clearer?" said Smith, who led the ballot drive.

"We felt the city should not be allowed to take advantage of the situation and we feel they are. We hope the court helps us rein them in."

In November, the state attorney general's office issued an opinion recommending that council members continue to receive benefits through the end of current terms. Senior deputy attorney general James Spencer reasoned that the purpose of the ballot question was to tie all compensation to the election process.

The pay issue has dogged the City Council since members first proposed mid-term raises in June 2000. Smith was a councilman at the time. He opposed the raises because they would have gone into effect before three council members stood for re-election. Such raises are illegal elsewhere in the state.

Councilman Bryan Nix, who plans to run for re-election this spring, said he is comfortable with Spencer's opinion and will accept the $950 in monthly auto and health benefits until they run out in June.

"To me this issue is like a mosquito buzzing around in my face," Nix said. "It's divisive and it has no real relevance to the community."

Councilman Doug Scheppmann, who served at his first meeting Tuesday as an appointed member filling out Hardy's term, said he has yet to discuss the issue with the city finance department. Hardy resigned to take a position in the Assembly.

"I haven't even thought about it," Scheppmann said. "I'm surprised, but we haven't even discussed pay."

Scheppmann said, however, that he is supportive of the City Council and of Spencer's legal opinion. As a new council member he would not want to be seen as grandstanding, he said.