City Manager Raise (San Antonio, Alamo, Ranger: low income, student loans, community college)

[dweej]

If it makes anyone feel better, the city manager for the city my hubby works for, a suburb of San Diego with a population of only 50,000 people, makes about $250K a year. The staff he manages, the city, the services, are peanuts compared to SA. So I don't know if it puts anything into perspective, but for her "line of work" and her performance, I think the deal seems pretty fair.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by txlawdawg

I love the phase mayor used " She made me 17 million so I think that 20 thousand is not much".

Let me give you the actual quote from the Express-News (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/Sweetened_pact_aims_to_keep_Sculley.html - broken link)

"Sculley did not return calls seeking comment, but the mayor made it clear he thinks the city has gotten its money's worth. He credited her with initiatives that saved the city $17 million in the past two years."

Most of that was due to Sculley's savvy fiscal moves that improved the city's bond rating to AAA. In this economic climate, that's very helpful.

IMO, for that alone, she deserves to be one of the highest-paid city managers in the country.

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by Dube665

Can she manage to fix pot holes and prevent teen pregnancy along with all the other things this city really needs? What is it exactly that she manages?

Uh, are you being serious? The City Manager directs the operations for the City of San Antonio, overseeing an annual budget of $2.3 billion and over 10,000 employees.

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by txlawdawg

Well I for one do not beleive that she deserves a three year contract extension with a $20,000.00 raise for each year. I love the phase mayor used " She made me 17 million so I think that 20 thousand is not much".

Bowie did us all a favor by showing that your "quote" is incorrect. It's really irresponsible to misquote people like this, and you should be more careful.

Sculley deserves the extension, raise, and the other benefits that she receives. This is an extraordinarily complex job, and her leadership and direction benefits the citizens of San Antonio in ways that most people never notice.

[txlawdawg]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

Bowie did us all a favor by showing that your "quote" is incorrect. It's really irresponsible to misquote people like this, and you should be more careful.

Sculley deserves the extension, raise, and the other benefits that she receives. This is an extraordinarily complex job, and her leadership and direction benefits the citizens of San Antonio in ways that most people never notice.

What I was quoting from was WOAI news last night. The Mayor said "anyone that wants to make me 17million, i'll give 'em 20thousand"

So I guess I paraphrased and should not have used "quotes". But thank you for my verbal reprimand, I will be sure to "be more careful" next time. Did I get that quote right?

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

Uh, are you being serious? The City Manager directs the operations for the City of San Antonio, overseeing an annual budget of $2.3 billion and over 10,000 employees.

Many of whom are barely paid a living wage, and work extremely hard.

I'm not opposed to paying someone what they're worth, but given how poorly some city employees are paid despite extreme dedication and hard work, it's a hard pill to swallow. I've seen far too many good city employees leave because the pay was too low to make a reasonable living given their background and experience.

I like Sculley and think she's done a reasonable job, but she's got to look around her at her own employees too.

[mrstxcop]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Many of whom are barely paid a living wage, and work extremely hard.

I'm not opposed to paying someone what they're worth, but given how poorly some city employees are paid despite extreme dedication and hard work, it's a hard pill to swallow. I've seen far too many good city employees leave because the pay was too low to make a reasonable living given their background and experience.

I like Sculley and think she's done a reasonable job, but she's got to look around her at her own employees too.

very well said...

[ryneone]

All she has done is a good job!

She is worth it. She has gotten our city a AAA bond rating that will save WAY more than her raise.


People with educations are not getting laid off as much then again not to many people in the city she manages are loosing their jobs!

[voyager674]

Originally Posted by ryneone

All she has done is a good job!

She is worth it. She has gotten our city a AAA bond rating that will save WAY more than her raise.

wow!! a triple A rating .. just like the sub prime mortgage bonds.

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Many of whom are barely paid a living wage, and work extremely hard.

I'm not opposed to paying someone what they're worth, but given how poorly some city employees are paid despite extreme dedication and hard work, it's a hard pill to swallow. I've seen far too many good city employees leave because the pay was too low to make a reasonable living given their background and experience.

I like Sculley and think she's done a reasonable job, but she's got to look around her at her own employees too.

Uh-oh. I might finally disagree with Chaka about something!

I do think you have a valid point. Many city employees are underpaid, and I have also seen many talented people leave and join the private sector, where they can (in many cases) automatically increase their pay by 30% (or more). Two friends (both worked at City Hall) did it just a few months ago, and their departure is a major loss for CoSA.

But the city is never going to have enough money to give the 10,000-plus employees a raise (can you imagine the public freak-out if someone proposed a 10% increase in the city tax rate to do that?). But what the CoSA CAN do is invest money in a dynamic, effective city manager (that a city of San Antonio's size is fortunate to have).

I will absolutely disagree with you that she's only done a "reasonable" job. That's simply not the case. While some people might not like her "style" (she can be "hard-charging"), she's almost universally praised for her results.