In multiple e-mails to his colleagues and city officials, Councilman Craig Gartman has specifically pointed to Human Resources Director LeeAnn McPhillips - whose salary jumped $30,558 in five years - and three fire battalion chiefs, who each received an average raise of about $46,000 between 2007 and 2008 after the council approved their reassignments from division chiefs. Aside from merit-based raises - which end once an employee reaches his or her pay ceiling and which the council recently froze despite union objections - employees also receive annual cost of living adjustments based on negotiated pay grades.

"I do discover that when I start turning over rocks, I find more than what I was looking for," Gartman wrote in an e-mail earlier this month to his colleagues and City Administrator Tom Haglund. "Is it micromanaging to continue into this investigation, or should I just lay the rock back down and forget about it, it will fix itself without us?"

While Gartman, who has sat on the dais since 2001, did not approve the 2007-08 budget that contained the battalion chiefs' reassignments, afterward he joined the rest of the previous city council in approving the new position's salary. He also signed off on pay grades for employees in Gilroy's other three bargaining groups, which have all contributed to the "out of control expenses" he has challenged.

Fire Chief Dale Foster, who met with the mayor Monday morning to discuss Gartman's concerns, chalked up the councilman's protest to a slight case of amnesia and explained that the council approved his department's reorganization in 2007 along with additional positions that never materialized due to budget cuts that also slashed six firefighters and additional personnel in January.

Compared to other comparably populated cities, Gilroy appears to be in the middle of the pack for battalion chief pay. Some cities, such as Watsonville, cap fire batallion chief pay at $107,000 each year, while Santa Clara County battalion chiefs can take home up to $164,000 a year, according to city figures and a county spokesperson. Gilroy caps its salaries at $148,000.

The difference between Gilroy's maximum salary and what the battalion chiefs - who work 56 hours a week - actually took home last fiscal year came from overtime. Together, the three chiefs took home more than $138,000 in extra pay last fiscal year for attending meetings and training and partaking in state-coordinated operations. Sacramento paid $40,000 of the total overtime bill, and the city covered the difference, but the council directed Foster to reduce Gilroy's nearly $100,000 contribution by $60,000 next fiscal year.

On the council level, Mayor Al Pinheiro and Councilman Dion Bracco described Gartman as a gadfly with a habit of pointing fingers, only this time apparently at himself, they said. But Pinheiro also accepted some of the blame for how past generosity has returned to haunt the council, which has already cut $8.3 million from this year's budget that still sits $4.3 in the red and will soon consider next year's expected deficit of about $200,000.

Councilman Perry Woodward - who was elected in November 2007 and has so far not voted on any salary agreements, along with new council members Cat Tucker and Bob Dillon - said the issue went back to the campaign, "when compensation for city employees was out of control and no one was minding the store."

"You can disagree with Gartman's methods, but ultimately his points are valid," Woodward said. "Former City Administrator (Jay Baksa), with the concurrence of the council, put us in this mine we're going to have to dig our way out of."

Officials have been meeting with union representatives about possible wage cuts or furloughs - which Councilwoman Tucker has advocated - and other compromises after 48 full-time employees lost their jobs earlier this year. However, no proposals have been made yet.

Nearby private employers such as Goldsmith Seeds are also organizing their finances, but the city's raises dwarf the company's.

Joel Goldsmith, who recently sold his family's flower seed business to a Swiss agribusiness conglomerate for $74 million, said the 160 or so employees who work along Hecker Pass Highway have typically received an annual raise of about 3 to 6 percent, but not any more.

"A couple years ago, we did less than that, and there hasn't been a great deal of cost of living increases lately," Goldsmith said, adding that last January employees received "on the lower end" of the spectrum and could likely expect the same, if any, next round.

"We're not facing anything like the city is, but we're still not doing what we were," Goldsmith said. "This is one of those years ... and the last couple have been, when people are watching what they're spending."