Escondido voters may weigh in this fall on whether the mayor and council should be bound by term limits, and whether changes should be made to the elected position of city treasurer, including a potential reduction in the treasurer’s salary.
The council directed staff at Wednesday’s meeting to draft a ballot measure that would ask voters whether future mayors and council should be limited to two and three four-year , respectively, starting with the November 2022 election. Currently, there is no limit on how many Escondido’s elected officials can serve.
Councilmember Mike Morasco placed the term limit and city treasurer items on Wednesday’s council agenda, citing a survey of city residents conducted last fall that showed 68 percent ed a limit of two for council , and 55 percent said the treasurer’s position should be eliminated.
In arguing for term limits, Morasco cited of Congress who have been in office “decades upon decades upon decades. Personally, philosophically, I don’t care what side you’re on, I think that was not the intent of our forefathers. Generally I don’t think it behooves us to have people in office that long, to become institutions unto themselves.”
“I would like to see us have limitations for a variety of reasons, I like to see new blood, young blood, other ideas, other individuals having the opportunity, to learn, to grow, to have greater input and greater say about what’s happening in the city of Escondido,” Morasco said.
Morasco said that at the end of his current term, he will have served 14 years on the council.
Councilmember Consuelo Martinez said she is not opposed to term limits, but questioned why the topic was added to the recent survey of city residents as her constituents have not raised the issue.
“The person who brought this forward is also the longest-serving council member. It’s just odd,” Martinez said.
“I’m not closed off to the idea but I feel we could hold off on this,” said Martinez, especially as the city is considering two other ballot measures for November, one regarding a sales tax increase and the other regarding the city treasurer’s position. A city staff report said placing the term limit question before voters would cost between $48,000 and $78,000.
Mayor Paul McNamara said the city should go forward with the term limit measure this November because of the strong shown in the survey.
“As a council, we’ve said we wanted community input on everything that we’ve ever done, and we have it; that survey is pretty clear, the community wants term limits,” McNamara said.
According to the staff report, like Escondido, the cities of Carlsbad, Del Mar, El Cajon, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, Solana Beach and Vista do not have term limits for council . The cities of Santee, Chula Vista, Coronado, San Diego, La Mesa, National City, San Marcos and Oceanside, along with the county of San Diego, do have term limits.
Following their discussion, the council directed staff to draft a potential ballot measure — which would have to be submitted to the county Registrar of Voters by Aug. 12 — calling for three four-year for the council and two four-year for the mayor’s office, meaning one individual could serve a maximum of 20 years in both offices.
Morasco also initiated a discussion of the city treasurer’s position, and whether it should remain as an elected office. The city’s current treasurer, Douglas Shultz, has served in the position since 2016 and won a new four-year term with no opposition in 2020.
A staff report said the treasurer is responsible for receiving all money collected by the city for either deposit or investment, disbursing funds as approved by the city council and working with the council to select an auditor each year for an independent review of city finances.
Shultz currently receives a salary of $105,997 annually, and oversees a staff of two employees. Current city rules set the treasurer’s salary at “no less than one half of the highest salary paid to a department head other than the city manager,” said a city staff report.
The report also said there are five cities in San Diego County that have elected treasurers, including Escondido, and the median salary for the position is $12,840.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the council directed City Manager Sean McGlynn to bring back a proposal for moving the elected treasurer’s duties to staff under McGlynn’s supervision. Any change to the office would require approval by voters.
