Mayor Bass Claws Back $500K for LA Recovery Czar Pay

Steve Soboroff, the recently appointed Los Angeles wildfire recovery czar, was to be paid $500,000 for 90 days of work, saying his expertise was well worth the price.

But then Mayor Karen Bass, faced with backlash over the $5,556-a-day fee to be paid by nonprofit groups, reversed course, the Los Angeles Times reported.

She said Soboroff will get no pay at all.

“Steve is always there for L.A.,” Bass said in a statement over the weekend. “I spoke to him today and asked him to modify his agreement and work for free. He said yes. We agree that we don’t need anything distracting from the recovery work we’re doing.”

Bass had tapped the developer and former police and parks commissioner last month to come up with a recovery plan for fire-ravaged areas in the city, which includes the more than 6,800 buildings burned in the Pacific Palisades.

He could also provide a much-needed political lift to a mayor whose initial response to the fire drew criticism, the Times said.

But the news that Soboroff would get $500,000 for three months’ work drew searing rebukes from Palisades residents, as well as public figures.

Soboroff, who’d talked to the Times earlier about the pushback about the pay, declined to comment to the Times, other than confirming that he would work for free.

When asked initially about the criticism, Soboroff said his pay was justified by his expertise and the broad duties he was taking on, according to the Times. He said he’d stopped real estate and environmental consulting work, forfeiting the income, to focus on wildfire recovery.

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years for free on some of the biggest civic projects for the city of Los Angeles. But nobody ever asked me to drop everything. This time they did,” Soboroff, 76, told the newspaper. “And I said OK, under the condition that my pay not be taken out of city money, or from any wildfire survivors who would otherwise benefit from that money.”

The mayor’s office declined to name the charities that would have paid Soboroff’s salary.

Bass had initially tasked him to lead the first phase of the rebuilding. She then backtracked, saying he would mostly focus on rebuilding the Palisades’ historic business district. Soboroff disputed that, saying he is regularly interacting with federal agencies.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who serves on a council committee overseeing the recovery, had called Soboroff’s reported compensation “obscene.”

She said it was “infuriating” that philanthropic groups would initially provide $750,000 — $500,000 for Soboroff and $250,000 for real estate executive Randy Johnson, who reports to him — when there are so many fire victims in need.

Bass then indicated Johnson also would work for free, saying she was “grateful for his generosity and expertise.”

— Dana Bartholomew