4 NEWS
SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2018
State Agency Rejects
Rodriguez’ Salary
Public employees union will not credit $30,000 of annual
relocation funds to district chancellor’s retirement
Story by Timothy Bravo
“I was not aware what
the CalPERS decision
would be, but I am OK
with not getting [the
relocation allowance]
as part of retirement
... The money I receive
is the same. How is
that a raise?”
RSCCD CHANCELLOR
RAUL RODRIGUEZ
State retirement officials
have rejected District Chan-
cellor Raul Rodriguez’s new
salary, after determining that it
violates retirement law.
The board of trustees
approved the new contract
last year, integrating former
relocation expenses totaling
$30,000 annually, meant to
compensate for the Chancel-
lor’s move to Orange County,
into his regular salary. Rodri-
guez has received the allowance
for about seven years, begin-
ning in 2010.
According to state law,
relocation expenses cannot
factor into one’s retirement,
as it could affect overall final
pension payment.
“[California Public Employ-
ees’ Retirement System] calcu-
lates pension by measuring the
individual’s one or three-year
average,” said CalPERS Infor-
mation Officer Amy Morgan.
Documents sent by RSCCD
to CalPERS did not report
Rodriguez’s base salary with
the allowance included. The
district provided two perma-
nent Chancellor salary sched-
ules covering two fiscal years,
reporting all compensation
prior to July 1 last year.
The two outdated schedules
cover the 2015-2016 and
2016-2017 fiscal years, show-
ing his annual base salary of
$265,443.61 and $268,257.31,
respectively. Both include
his housing allowance under
an additional compensation
category.
“Somebody had to alert
CalPERS that the district was
not following retirement law,
because Rodriguez certainly
didn’t. Rodriguez has been
a college CEO for over two
decades and he should have
known what is and is not
creditable compensation,” said
Santiago Canyon Community
College counselor and Faculty
Association of RSCCD board
member Barry Resnick, leading
him to provide an updated
salary schedule.
The revised schedule, cover-
ing the 2017-2018 fiscal year,
removes the housing allowance
and shows an annual base
salary just over $300,000. The
board approved the request
Sept. 11, almost one week after
the initial CalPERS review
in August.
“CalPERS is working with
RSCCD to correct his salary
schedule and remove the relo-
cation pay, so that it will be in
compliance with the retirement
law,” writes CalPERS repre-
sentative David Teykaerts in
an email to Resnick, assuring
CalPERS is placing his account
under an administrative hold
and will conduct a review
prior to calculating his final
retirement payout.
“I was not aware what the
CalPERS decision would be,
but I am OK with not getting
[the relocation allowance] as
part of retirement,” Rodriguez
said. “The money I receive is
the same. How is that a raise?”
Under Rodriguez’s leadership,
both Santa Ana and Santiago
Canyon colleges are experi-
encing dwindling enrollment
numbers, while SAC continues
to undergo large-scale con-
struction projects. Rodriguez
has also met controversy for
the district’s overseas education
plans in Saudi Arabia.