Grand jury report gives failing grades to Huntington, Fountain Valley

An Orange County Grand Jury report on local cities’ transparency regarding government compensation flunked Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley in at least one category.

The neighboring cities both received an F grade for disclosure of executive salaries and benefits. Huntington Beach received a B for disclosure of employee salaries and for accessibility of information. Fountain Valley got a B in accessibility, but a D in the employee category.

Huntington Beach City Manager Fred Wilson said the executive salaries were lumped in with all the employees’ salaries.

“It was there, but it was lumped together,” he said. “The grand jury’s position was to separate them, which we’ve done now.”

The guidelines and requirements for local government compensation transparency came as a result of the city of Bell’s scandal, which the Los Angeles Times uncovered after learning that Bell’s city’s manager was making nearly $1 million a year in salary in addition to benefits.

—Mona Shadia

Twitter: @MonaShadia