Meldrim v. Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County

Opinion

DEVINE, J.* In this taxpayers’ suit, judgment was given in favor of defendants, supervisors and other officers of Contra Costa County. The taxpayers sought to invalidate an ordinance passed by the supervisors in 1974 which set the salaries of members of the board of supervisors at $14,282.80 per year, because a 1972 ordinance, passed by initiative in 1972 had fixed the salaries at $13,200 per year, and county initiative measures may not be amended or repealed (unless so provided in a measure), without approval of the voters. (Elec. Code, § 3720.) The initiative measure in turn had followed a 1970 ordinance in which the salaries had been set by the supervisors at $14,500. A referendum proceeding had been commenced against the 1970 ordinance but had failed to collect the necessary number of signatures. The trial judge decided that the 1972 initiative measure itself was unconstitutional and that therefore the 1974 ordinance was valid.

We sustain the judgment. Prior to 1970, the Legislature set the salaries of supervisors in general law counties, of which Contra Costa is one. In 1970, California Constitution, article XI, section 1, subdivision (b) was amended by the voters to read as follows: “The Legislature shall provide for county powers and an elected governing body in each county. Except as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 4 of this article, each governing body shall prescribe by ordinance the compensation of its members, but the ordinance prescribing such compensation shall be subject to referendum.” The language of the amendment is clear: the governing body (and not the “county” or the “voters”) shall prescribe the compensation. In contrast, the state Constitution gives counties the right to make and enforce ordinances not in conflict with general laws (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 7) and gives charter counties the right to set the salaries of their [344]supervisors. (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 4, subd. (b).) The constitutional amendment adopted by the voters could have added the authority to set the salary of the supervisors of noncharter counties to the general powers of such counties (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 7), but, instead, it specifically gave that power to the governing bodies themselves, subject to referendum. If the initiative were held to be applicable, the voters could prescribe the compensation, in contradiction to the provision that the governing body shall do so.

Although the clarity of the constitutional provision makes unnecessary a declaration of the reasons which might be marshalled to sustain the judgment, it is not amiss to state some likely rationale for the procedure ordained by the constitutional amendment particularly because of appellants’ assertion, as discussed below, that initiative and referendum are virtually interchangeable.