At the July 18, 2023, city council meeting, Tracy Noonan, Thousand Oaks city attorney, and Andrew Powers, city manager, negotiated salary increases of six percent for themselves for fiscal year 2023. They will now earn $312,003 and $309,171, respectively, in base salaries. Health, retirement and other benefits add another $87,000, on average, to each of their total earnings, bringing their total pay and benefits just shy of $400,000 this year.

Both high-earners are guaranteed at least another four percent increase in July 2024, which would take Noonan’s base salary to $324,483 and Powers’ to $321,538, putting them well over $400,000 annually with benefits.

For context, the jump in pay from June 2023 to July 2024 is at least $30,000 each, $60,000 for both. Compare this to the $23.25 an hour city-paid crossing guards earn. Noonan’s and Powers’ pay raises alone — not including their present salaries and benefits — would pay annually for five crossing guards for the entire school year.