Supervisors yesterday rejected a proposed contract with a $20,000 raise for County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
Last month at the direction of the board, Huckelberry prepared a four-year contract. He proposed increasing his salary from $127,638 to $148,000 a year.
The contract also included $7,500 in deferred compensation - such as retirement benefits - plus an extra $75,000 if the board fired him before Jan. 2, 2001.
Democrats Dan Eckstrom and Sharon Bronson, frequent critics of the administrator, voted to approve the contract as long as Huckelberry added job performance standards to it later.
That move failed 2-3, with Democratic Chairman Raul Grijalva siding with Republican Supervisors Mike Boyd and Ray Carroll.
Grijalva asked Huckelberry to provide the board with performance standards, as well as comparable compensation figures for managers in similar-sized counties.
Huckelberry has been working without a contract since January, when Bronson and Eckstrom voted to oust him.
The board will consider the revised contract on Sept. 23.
In an unrelated matter, the board accepted incorporation petitions for the city of Catalina Foothills.
Residents submitted 4,285 signatures to place an incorporation measure on the Nov. 4 ballot. The proposed city is bordered loosely by the Rillito River and the Coronado National Forest, from North First Avenue to Sabino Creek.
Casas Adobes residents also will vote on Nov. 4 whether to become a town. The town of Tortolita incorporated earlier this month.
