STAFF REPORT
City of Lancaster
CC 10
9/8/2026
TN
Date: September 8, 2026
To: Mayor Parris and City Council Members
From: Andrea Alexander, City Clerk
Subject: An Ordinance Amending Section 2.04.030 of the Lancaster Municipal Code to Establish the Salaries of the Mayor and City Council Members at the Amount Authorized for General Law Cities By California Government Code Section 36516 Recommendation:
Adopt Ordinance No. 1154, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Lancaster, California, Amending Section 2.04.030 of the Lancaster Municipal Code to Establish the Salaries of the Mayor and City Council Members at the Amount Authorized for General Law Cities By California Government Code Section 36516.
G.C. Section 84308: No
Fiscal Impact:
The proposed ordinance would align the City with the general law and establish $2,550.00 per month as the salary for each member and $3,825.00 for the Mayor. Across the five members of the City Council, annual salary cost would increase from approximately $36,000 to approximately $168,300.
Background:
The City of Lancaster is a charter city organized under a charter adopted by the voters and filed with the Secretary of State, designated Charter Chapter No. 5, Statutes of 2010. The compensation of a charter city’s own officers is a municipal affair. (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 5(a), (b)(4)).
Section 203 of the City Charter provides that compensation for the Mayor and each City Council Member “may be set, and from time to time may be changed by ordinance, which ordinance shall be adopted by a four-fifths vote of the Mayor and City Council.” Section 203 sets no dollar ceiling, and the population-based schedule of Government Code section 36516 governs general 2 5
1 6
law cities rather than charter cities. The amount is therefore committed to the City Council’s discretion, bounded by the public purpose and gift of public funds doctrine. (Cal. Const., art.
XVI, § 6.)
A city council necessarily acts on its own compensation, and the City Charter commits that decision to the City Council by supermajority ordinance. No member is disqualified from participating and no member is required to recuse. Because Section 203 does not require that an increase be deferred to a new term, the City Council’s election on the deferral question should be stated on the record.
At the Lancaster City Council meeting held on August 25, 2026, the City Council approved the introduction of Ordinance No. 1154, amending Section 2.04.030 of the Lancaster Municipal Code to 2.04.030 – City council and Mayor salaries. According to the provisions of Government Code Section 36516, and consistent with the maximum salary authorized by Government Code Section 36516(a)(2)(E) for general law cities with a population over 150,000 up to and including 250,000, the city council salary is established at two thousand five hundred fifty dollars ($2,550.00) per month, and in accordance with the provisions of Government Code Section 36516.1, the salary of the mayor is established at Three Thousand Eight Hundred Twenty Five dollars ($3, 825.00) per month inclusive of the amount received as member of the city council. The mayor and each city council member shall be eligible to participate in any continuing education and/or tuition reimbursement program the city offers to city employees in the same manner and pursuant to the same rules as city employees, except that the mayor and each city council member shall be eligible for a maximum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) per fiscal year in reimbursements. Any amount reimbursed to or for the benefit of the mayor or a city council member pursuant to the city’s tuition reimbursement program shall be in addition to the salary provided in the preceding paragraph and shall be considered compensation as authorized by Section 203 of the city’s Charter, by the following vote: 5-0-0-0; AYES: Castellanos, Mann, White, Hughes-Leslie, Parris; NOES: None; ABSTAIN: None; ABSENT: None.
Staff recommends the City Council approve the adoption and second reading of Ordinance No. 1154.
Attachment:
Ordinance No. 1154