Councilmember Janani Ramachandran, who represents Oakland District 4, is strongly opposed to the proposed increase in [Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s] salary by $75,000 per year, given the difficult fiscal environment the city is facing, and the urgent need to focus our City’s limited financial resources on providing basic constituent services to our residents.

At Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, Councilmember Ramachandran was the only Committee Member to vote in opposition to the proposed salary increase. She is open to increasing the Mayor’s salary, but not by the amount proposed, which is from the current $202,999.94 per year to $277,974.54.

Oakland’s Charter permits (but does not require) City Council to increase the Mayor’s salary every two years, in an amount between 70% and 90% of the average salary of the City Manager or Administrator (not the Mayor) across six California cities closest in population: Bakersfield, Anaheim, Sacramento, Long Beach, Fresno, and Stockton.

This Charter provision essentially compares “apples to oranges,” comparing the salary of Oakland’s mayor to the salaries of City Managers or Administrators, who are not elected officials. Notably, almost none of these cities saw a budget deficit in their 2023-2025 fiscal cycle, and some saw their budgets increase.

If you compare “apples to apples,” the average mayor’s salary in these specified six cities is approximately $119,000, notably less than the Oakland mayor’s current salary. As a point of comparison, the governor of California’s salary is around $220,000 per year.

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Councilmember Ramachandran only supports an increase in the mayor’s salary on the lower end of the range permitted by the Charter, rather than an increase by the maximum allowable amount as was proposed. For example, 75% of the average salaries of City Managers or Administrators in the six comparably sized cities would increase the Oakland Mayor’s salary to $231,645 per year.

The primary reason why Councilmember Ramachandran supports increasing the salary only by this lower amount of the allowable range is because Oakland is experiencing the largest budget deficit that it has had in the city’s history, with projections of over $360 million in the next two years.

Our City Council was forced to make a series of difficult cuts across departments and programs that support basic needs of Oaklanders — from public safety to roads and infrastructure, parks and youth programming, and much more. In light of these difficult fiscal realities, she believes that it is not fiscally prudent to invest their limited General Fund dollars into such a stark salary increase.

Furthermore, Councilmember Ramachandran believes that if we are having constructive conversations about government salary increases, that we should be focusing our efforts on addressing those city workers earning less than a living wage. In fact, some city workers currently make Oakland’s minimum wage.

This issue will now be heard by the entire Oakland City Council on July 18 at 4 p.m. 

To make public comment in person, arrive by 4 p.m. and check in with the Clerk to submit a speaker’s card. To make public comment via Zoom, email cityclerk@oaklandca.gov before the meeting starts, noting your name and that you want to speak on the Mayor’s Salary Item. When the item is called, click the “raise your hand” feature and you will be called on to make your comment. You can access this Zoom link when the meeting starts: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89659655572.

If you cannot attend the council meeting, you can voice your opinion with other City Councilmembers by emailing council@oaklandca.gov.