The NCTimes gave the Encinitas City Council a rose for not giving the CM a raise.

The 'Fiscal Responsibility' award

A rose to the Encinitas City Council for voting against a proposal to give Encinitas City Manager Phil Cotton an 11 percent raise.

If the raise had been granted, Cotton's base salary would have increased by $21,859, bringing his overall annual compensation package to nearly a quarter of a million dollars. That's a lot of money to run a city of only about 60,000 people.

The NCT editorial is a little misleading. The Council never voted. Watch this series of videos to see how it went down.

Stocks' comments make it clear that he was supporting the raise.

Stocks just voted to give a hefty raise to the SANDAG director two months ago. The UT reported,

Gary Gallegos, executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments, would see his $240,000 annual base salary grow by $50,000 over five years under a recommendation due to reach the agency’s board of directors tomorrow.

Barth was already on record against a raise and during the meeting Jim Bond made these statements.

Stocks' position was not going to win. Watch how Barth moves for a vote against the raise, Houlihan fails to second the motion, Stocks finds a way to avoid a vote, and Mayor Dalager pushes on to the next agenda item without a vote being taken.

These two public speakers stayed around for hours to speak. It is worth watching. One of them is a city council candidate.

To watch the entire meeting go to the March 10, 2010 video here.