History: In May 2025, Mayor Smith and the Council voted themselves an immediate 130% pay increase, just weeks after announcing significant fiscal challenges. At that meeting, the Council rejected a motion to submit the increase to the voters and approved a motion to consider medical benefits at a later date. Residents responded with a referendum seeking a public vote.

Transparent Pacific Grove circulated the referendum petition from June 6 through June 30, 2025. The petition was filed with the City of Pacific Grove on July 1, 2025, and certified by Monterey County Elections on August 6, 2025. On September 17, 2025, the City Council repealed Ordinance 25-007.

On February 18, 2026, the City Council placed an even higher pay increase on the June 2nd primary ballot, a $63,000 special election for the City, where voter turnout is significantly lower. The cost of placing Measure C on the November ballot would have been “negligible,” according to the Monterey County Registrar of Voters.