The citizens committee charged with setting state elected officials' salaries quickly reached the conclusion Monday that California -- oozing with debt -- can't afford to give them a raise.

"All of us felt that, at this time, the best action was to maintain the same salary and benefits," said David Wong, a new member of the California Citizens Compensation Commission. "I think it was the best course of action."

The unpaid commission meets yearly to set the salaries and benefits for the state's constitutional officers, members of the Board of Equalization and members of the Legislature.

The commission, created though Proposition 112, last raised the salaries of statewide officers in 2000.

It increased pay for legislative leaders in 1999 and for other lawmakers in 1998.

Before the commission's existence, California lawmakers were poorly paid compared with those in other large states, commission Chairman John Mack said. California elected officials are some of the highest paid in the nation but are dwarfed in pay by elected leaders in some big cities and counties.

Commission members unanimously agreed not to raise salaries.

"We are in the midst of a fiscal crisis. This is the absolute worst time to raise salaries," Mack said.

The members rejected, however -- without discussion -- a suggestion that state legislators take a one-year, 10 percent reduction in salary.

Nineteen citizens signed a letter saying it is "only fair" because "many individuals have lost their jobs or been forced to accept a pay cut."

Mack said officials' pay has not kept pace with inflation, giving them a de facto pay cut.

Some elected officials, including Gov. Gray Davis and a handful of legislators, are taking voluntary pay reductions.

Davis, other statewide constitutional officers, appointed staff and legislators won't be paid until a budget is signed.

"Next year, if there is a dramatic turnaround, everything is up for discussion," Mack said. "We felt like this was the right thing to do and the responsible thing to do."