Why Is Transparent PG Still Collecting Signatures?
Transparent PG said they wanted voters to decide council pay.
The voters are deciding. Measure C is on the June 2 ballot.
So the real question is this: why is Transparent PG still collecting signatures?
Here is the part they are not telling you
The council proposed a raise that was public, debated in open meetings, and authorized by state law SB 329 — the same law every other Monterey County city except Carmel has already used.
Transparent PG then collected signatures to force a public vote. When questions arose about process, the council responded by putting the issue directly before voters on June 2.
Transparent PG got exactly what they asked for.
And now they want more.
Their new petition would amend the City Charter to require a ballot measure for every future compensation adjustment — even a routine cost-of-living update.
That is not accountability. That is a permanent wall built before voters have even spoken.
That wall comes with a price tag
And that price tag would be paid by Pacific Grove taxpayers.
Each ballot measure costs the city thousands of dollars to run. A routine cost-of-living adjustment would cost a fraction of that. Force every future update onto the ballot, and the procedural fights alone will cost Pacific Grove more over time than the raises ever would.
If Transparent PG cared about fiscal responsibility, they would stop manufacturing expensive battles on the public's dime.
They call this self-dealing. Here are the actual numbers.
Council pay is $420 a month. It has not changed since 1998.
For a role that routinely runs 40 to 60 hours a month, that works out to roughly $7 to $10 an hour.
California's minimum wage is $16.90.
That is not self-dealing. That is a city asking people to work for less than minimum wage in exchange for the privilege of serving their community.
This is not a windfall. It is a 27-year catch-up.
In 1998, average California rent was under $990 a month. Today it exceeds $2,700.
After Measure C, council pay would be $987 a month. No health insurance. No new benefits. Still at the low end of Monterey County.
This is not an extravagant payout. It is a long-overdue adjustment that reflects the same economic reality every working person in Pacific Grove has lived through over the past three decades.
Other surrounding cities have already recognized that reality and acted. Pacific Grove is one of the last.
Frozen pay is a filter on who gets to govern
When serving your community pays less than minimum wage, not everyone can say yes.
The people pushed out are not the wealthy or the retired. They are working parents, renters, caregivers, teachers, and younger residents — exactly the people Pacific Grove needs at the table.
Frozen pay is not a neutral policy. It is a quiet structural barrier that shapes who can realistically afford to run, serve, and lead.
A council that reflects all of Pacific Grove requires compensation that does not screen out everyone who cannot absorb a significant personal financial loss.
The accountability they claim to want already exists
Every meeting, agenda, and vote is public. Every official answers to voters at every election. State law already limits future increases to cost-of-living, and Measure C freezes pay until 2031.
The safeguards are already built into the system.
This petition is not fixing a broken process. It is breaking a functional one.
They already got the vote they asked for
It is called Measure C, and it is on the June 2 ballot.
Their second petition reveals what this was always about — not transparency, not fiscal responsibility, and not letting voters decide.
It is about making sure public service stays hardest to access for people without wealth or flexibility.
Public service should be open to everyone
Public service should be open to everyone, not just those who can absorb the financial cost of serving.
PG Progressives supports Measure C because we believe Pacific Grove deserves a council that reflects the full range of people who live here — working families, renters, younger residents, and everyone who has something to contribute but cannot afford to do it for free.
Vote YES on Measure C on June 2. And do not sign a petition designed to build permanent barriers before the vote Pacific Grove is already taking.
PG Progressives is a chartered club of the Monterey County Democrats working to build a more equitable Pacific Grove. Add your voice at pgprogressives.org/join.
