TAMPA — Pay raises landed Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean on the hot seat again Wednesday.
This time, it was a pay raise for herself, one that Bean authorized without seeking approval from county commissioners, who set her salary.
A report from the county's performance auditor shows that Bean and nine other top county officials received 1 percent pay raises in 2007. It was part of a long-standing incentive program for employees who suggest ways to save the county money.
County Attorney Renee Lee also got roughly the same $2,100 salary increase.
The problem: County commissioners are supposed to set the salaries for Bean and Lee, who both have employment contracts. But commissioners were unaware of the raises until late last week. That's when word circulated about internal performance auditor Jim Barnes' report, which was presented to the board Wednesday.
Commissioner Kevin Beckner had requested an analysis by Barnes of executive salaries in county government, which unearthed the raise.
"This should have come to the board of county commissioners for salary approval," Beckner said. "The perception of this does not bode well."
Discussion of the raises started during the morning at the commission's Wednesday meeting and continued in the afternoon. In between, Bean and Lee both submitted letters volunteering to rescind the raises, though not retroactively.
Commissioners accepted that offer and tentatively approved a new policy requiring their sanction for any raises given to contract employees who report directly to them.
Bean told commissioners that she and Lee were nominated for the salary boost, and that she doesn't know who made the recommendation. The nomination was presumably related to cutbacks both have made in their offices.
The raises for Bean, Lee and other senior managers were initially considered by Bean's executive team, then forwarded to Bean for her approval.
Bean, who currently makes $226,366, said she asked Lee's opinion at the time about whether they could accept the pay raise.
Lee, who makes $214,864, said that both of their contracts grant them benefits at least on par with all other county employees. She concluded that the incentive program was essentially a benefit.
Lee reiterated her analysis Wednesday: "It's an interpretation of the contract. Certainly, interpretations can differ."
Word of the raises infuriated some commissioners.
"You can gussy it up any way you want," said an angry Mark Sharpe. "It's a pay increase."
"Let me opine, I think that is terrible judgment on the part of the county administrator and county attorney," he said, later restating a lack of confidence in Bean he has voiced previously.
Barnes told commissioners that one top director nominated for the salary increase declined it. He said Rick Garrity, executive director of the Environmental Protection Commission, told him he didn't feel comfortable accepting it because he serves under a contract that specifies his salary.
Bean was harshly criticized by commissioners this summer for awarding pay raises of 7 percent to 17 percent to her six top deputies late last year as the county was struggling financially. She later agreed to rescind the raises.
The bonus she received for cost cutting would have been on top of any raise commissioners approved for Bean that year. Bean said the program was created before she became county administrator to buttress a rewards program that provided cash incentives to lower-level workers who identify ways to save the county money.
Bean emphasized afterward that she sought a legal opinion and should be able to trust the attorney's advice. But she also conceded, "Maybe I didn't use the best judgment."
Barnes faced his own criticism for his handling of the report. He acknowledged he hadn't talked to Bean or Lee to hear their explanations before he released his findings.
"This is a violation of integrity," said Commissioner Jim Norman, expressing his own lack of confidence in Barnes. "You don't spear someone without having a response."
Commissioner Rose Ferlita chastised him for factual errors in a backup document created in preparing the report, and for spending 300 hours on it. And she faulted him for sharing varying levels of information about the report with commissioners before it was leaked to a television reporter.
"This is sloppy work," she said.
Barnes has faced similar criticism from commissioners in the past. Commissioners are expected to discuss spending on his office when they meet for a final public hearing on this year's budget today.
Bill Varian can be reached at varian@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3387.
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