Three top San Diego County appointees got pay raises this month after performance evaluations that concluded the higher salaries were warranted.
County Counsel Claudia G. Silva, Chief Probation Officer Tamika Nelson and Clerk of the Board Andrew Potter all received votes of confidence by county supervisors on Dec. 10 — and hourly pay hikes retroactive to June.
“As the appointing authority, the Board of Supervisors conducts their respective employee performance evaluations,” a staff report to the board stated. “Today’s action seeks to align evaluation dates consistent with both the county’s fiscal year and the chief administrative officer’s evaluation date.”
The raises will provide the senior staff members raises of between $11,000 and $25,000 a year, or just under $50,000 in base pay per year.
Because the salary hikes are retroactive to June, each of the three department leaders will get supplemental checks for the added pay going back to early summer. Based on current calculations, those lump-sum payments will be between $5,000 and $12,000 each.
Silva, who took over as the county’s top lawyer in July 2022 after the former county counsel left for reasons that were not disclosed, got the largest pay hike. Under the change approved this month, her base salary climbed from $338,000 to $363,000 per year — a more than 7% raise.
The County Counsel’s Office supervises some 185 employees with a budget this year set at $46.6 million. The office provides legal advice to elected supervisors and manages litigation filed by and against San Diego County.
As chief probation officer, Nelson runs the Probation Department, which supervises adult and youth rehabilitation programs, including juvenile hall facilities. The agency employs 1,087 people and has a 2024-25 budget of just over $320 million.
Nelson, who became the county’s first woman to run the Probation Department when she was appointed early in 2022, saw her hourly salary rise by 5%, or $6.30 per hour, to $132.31 per hour. The increase pushed her base annual pay from just over $262,000 to $275,000 per year.
The clerk of the board is responsible for archiving the Board of Supervisors’ official documents and overseeing county bodies such as the assessment appeals boards and other administrative functions.
As the appointed clerk, Potter oversees a 30-person staff and a $5.6 million budget. He also got a roughly 5% raise.
Under the supervisors’ vote earlier this month, Potter’s pay rose by just over $5 per hour, boosting his annual salary from about $214,000 to $225,000.
The San Diego County budget this year is $8.5 billion.
