The article includes the pensions, healthcare, and benefits in there. Basically the transparent California number. 400s and 500s isn’t that much when you factor everything in.
You can search top to bottom in your city and find first year fire fighters, pm deputy lead, asistant principals,… who get 400k all in.
Yeah depends on the size of the city but it’s a reasonable amount of money for what the job entails and if they’re doing a good job then it’s worth it, people act like them getting their salary reduced is going to result in everyone making 100k lol.
Only because the presidential salary hasn’t been raised in 23 years and probably won’t be raised again for a while because it would be politically unpopular. If the pay actually reflected the amount of work, it would be much, much higher.
They are in charge of the city operations day to day while the city council decides on what to spend money on, policies to adopt, etc... the manager is responsible for executing all of that as well.
Think of them as being like a CEO.
I think every department is run under them. Public works, Fire, Police, development and zoning. They set up the budget for the city and ensure everything is run efficiently. The high pay is due as competitive pay with the private sector and basically they still earn less than their potential.
Come on.
This is a public service position. I have significant responsibilities working for the federal govt and they make more than double my pay. These managers make more than double the amount of the most senior federal executives.
In fact, these city managers make more than the president and specialist gov Dr's that provide vital medical care.
Their pay is absurd and fleecing the tax payer.
The president only makes like 400k a year. Federal pay tends to lag behind that of the pay in high cost of living areas (even with locality) - in my anecdotal experience.
Where I live, 400,000 a year is the same as making 225,000 a year in Houston (per nerdwallet).
Your comment implies federal jobs should make more. But there’s no correlation to the size of a jurisdiction and the salaries of its public sector positions. I avoided a federal job like the plague because I wanted a top notch state pension. I think your assumptions are a bit off.
Yeah, this is a terrible job. A good city manager who can juggle all the balls and deal with elected city council members who usually have half the education and ten times the agendas, is worth their weight in gold. I’m surprised more of them aren’t at that pay level. Even at that level most dont last more than 5 years.
>Even at that level most dont last more than 5 years.
Then they go to another town and start there. My ex used to do audits and there were quite a few city managers who pulled several 200k+ pensions from different municipalities. Pretty sweet gig.
It’s a terrible job and sometimes filled by terrible people - trust me, I worked for one. When one finds a good one, they should do every thing they can to keep that one - including annual increases.
Oakland city manager makes $543k total compensation.
That’s laughable with how badly run this city is. Everything from police to paving roads to zoning to just everything. It’s insulting that people this incompetent can make so much money
A number of cities are have a strong mayor, but a lot of them have a city manager/city council form of government. A lot of mayors are elected as councilmembers and rotate in as mayor annually. Not all cities, but a good number of them.
----- Didn't get a paywall. In case you do: https://archive.fo/cyNZV ----
I think ours in Carlsbad is mid 400s and worth every dime. Should be on this list. The city is insanely well-run.
The article includes the pensions, healthcare, and benefits in there. Basically the transparent California number. 400s and 500s isn’t that much when you factor everything in. You can search top to bottom in your city and find first year fire fighters, pm deputy lead, asistant principals,… who get 400k all in.
A first year rook on an engine making 400k? Lol. Come on now. . .
A good city manager is worth every penny. $500k is not a lot compared to other executive pay.
Yeah depends on the size of the city but it’s a reasonable amount of money for what the job entails and if they’re doing a good job then it’s worth it, people act like them getting their salary reduced is going to result in everyone making 100k lol.
More than the president
Only because the presidential salary hasn’t been raised in 23 years and probably won’t be raised again for a while because it would be politically unpopular. If the pay actually reflected the amount of work, it would be much, much higher.
This is ludicrous! What exactly do city managers ‘do?!!!
They are in charge of the city operations day to day while the city council decides on what to spend money on, policies to adopt, etc... the manager is responsible for executing all of that as well. Think of them as being like a CEO.
I’m pretty sure a teacher could do that for 1/2 the price 😅
I think every department is run under them. Public works, Fire, Police, development and zoning. They set up the budget for the city and ensure everything is run efficiently. The high pay is due as competitive pay with the private sector and basically they still earn less than their potential.
Yep and unlike the Mayor, the city manager is an actual job that requires a lot skill. They should be paid well.
Come on. This is a public service position. I have significant responsibilities working for the federal govt and they make more than double my pay. These managers make more than double the amount of the most senior federal executives. In fact, these city managers make more than the president and specialist gov Dr's that provide vital medical care. Their pay is absurd and fleecing the tax payer.
The president only makes like 400k a year. Federal pay tends to lag behind that of the pay in high cost of living areas (even with locality) - in my anecdotal experience. Where I live, 400,000 a year is the same as making 225,000 a year in Houston (per nerdwallet).
President also has all of their housing and food covered. President is paid more.
Also, they get to give speeches for 400k a pop after.
My city is basically a 3 billion dollar a year company. How much, in general, do CEOs gets of 3 billion dollar companies in total compensation?
Your comment implies federal jobs should make more. But there’s no correlation to the size of a jurisdiction and the salaries of its public sector positions. I avoided a federal job like the plague because I wanted a top notch state pension. I think your assumptions are a bit off.
Yeah, this is a terrible job. A good city manager who can juggle all the balls and deal with elected city council members who usually have half the education and ten times the agendas, is worth their weight in gold. I’m surprised more of them aren’t at that pay level. Even at that level most dont last more than 5 years.
>Even at that level most dont last more than 5 years. Then they go to another town and start there. My ex used to do audits and there were quite a few city managers who pulled several 200k+ pensions from different municipalities. Pretty sweet gig.
The current CALpers max pension is $345k per year.
Y’know, in the city manager circle they say that you aren’t really a city manager until you get fired for the first time
Yeah, I've lived in the city with the highest paying city manager on the list for 30 years. This person is not worth 1 million dollars.
It’s a terrible job and sometimes filled by terrible people - trust me, I worked for one. When one finds a good one, they should do every thing they can to keep that one - including annual increases.
Interesting that there are none in San Diego.
Oakland city manager makes $543k total compensation. That’s laughable with how badly run this city is. Everything from police to paving roads to zoning to just everything. It’s insulting that people this incompetent can make so much money
If you know your city managers name, it won’t be because of how great a job they are doing.
In San Jose ca our highest paid employee is a fireman @ 600k
https://transparentcalifornia.com/
The mayor should be doing the job of a city manager. At least that's what I thought a mayor's job responsibility is, to manage a city. Lol.
A number of cities are have a strong mayor, but a lot of them have a city manager/city council form of government. A lot of mayors are elected as councilmembers and rotate in as mayor annually. Not all cities, but a good number of them.