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All of Arizona's city manages in this article make $126,691 or more! That is a min of $60 an hour. The Phoenix city managers get $113 an hour. To get the hourly figure I just divided the yearly salary by 52 weeks and the en by 40 hours. In reality it is probably a lot more then that because most of these jobs get several weeks of vacation time, free cars, free cell phones along with sick pay and a bunch of other perks.
The East Valley Tribune ran this article and title it "Review: Pay among city managers reasonable" - Of course I disagree with that and find it insane that we can justify paying these government nannies $200,000+ Review finds no Bell, Calif.-scale pay among Arizona’s city managers By Maria Polletta and David Rookhuyzen, Cronkite News Service Published: December 2, 2010 at 3:26 pm Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, says the openness of local governments is a key reason why Arizona doesn’t have a situation similar to that in Bell, Calif., which made national headlines when its city manger was found to make nearly $800,000. (Cronkite News Service Photo by Steve Doty) [ Not really! Despite public records laws government tyrants routinely try to cover up what they do so they won't anger the public on how they waste and steal our money! ] Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos’ contract includes $236,997 a year in salary, a $600-per-month vehicle allowance and a taxpayer-funded life insurance policy equal to twice his salary. Goodyear City Manager John Fischbach’s contract lists $168,000 in salary, calls for 160 hours of paid vacation and has the option for a cell phone provided by the city. Prescott City Manager Steve Norwood’s contract lists $154,523 in salary with paid health insurance, while Marana Town Manager Gilbert Davidson’s contract calls for $148,000 in salary and a matching 5 percent of that amount to be paid as deferred compensation. After tiny Bell, Calif., captured national attention over news that its city manager collected almost $800,000 annually, Cronkite News Service reviewed contracts and other compensation for managers in Arizona’s 15 largest cities and many smaller ones. The review involved public records requests submitted to dozens of municipalities by Cronkite News Service and students in Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The result: No Bells among the municipalities examined. Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, wasn’t surprised. “That’s not an issue in this state, and we’ve been very responsible in paying people appropriately,” he said. Strobeck said the compensation is fair for the job city managers do. “Recognize that city managers are responsible for the success of multimillion-dollar organizations, so they need to be compensated for their expertise and responsibility,” he said. [ Well not really. In a private business managers make lots of bucks because they cause the business to make lots of money. On the other hand government steal every cent they spend. OK, stealing is is just a politically incorrect, but more accurate word then taxes! ] Numbers from the Arizona City/County Management Association put the average city manager’s salary statewide at around $113,356, slightly higher than the national mean for city managers of $106,408. In the largest 15 cities, the average of the salaries listed in contracts was $183,416. Strobeck said a key reason why Arizona doesn’t have cases of Bell-scale pay is the openness of local governments. “We don’t adopt the budgets in the dark of night or the middle of the night,” he said. “We have to do it in public, at public hearings, at public city council meetings, so there is accountability.” Cavazos’ $236,997 salary made him the highest-paid city manager in that group. Gregory Wilkinson, city manager in Yuma, Arizona’s 12th-largest municipality, was at the low end among the top 15 municipalities with a salary of $126,691, according to his contract. Among smaller communities, Payson Town Manager Debra Galbraith is contracted to earn $125,000 a year, and Pinetop-Lakeside Town Manager Kelly Udall’s contract calls for $115,676. John Kross, town manager of Queen Creek, has a $130,000-a-year salary, according to his contract. Marty Vanacour, a former Glendale city manager now serving as a professor of practice with Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs, said the salaries are right for the market. [ Of course this government bureaucrat thinks his pay is justified! ] “I think it’s competitive,” he said. “It may be low for the city of Phoenix, which is a major corporation, but you won’t find any exorbitant salaries in the state of Arizona.” Prescott’s Norwood, who works in Arizona’s 20th-largest municipality, said the difference in salary between cities is based on the community and size of its budget. “The market is everything,” Norwood said. “I think its crazy that a professional athlete makes $15 [million] to $20 million a year, but that’s what the market supports and pays.” [ Well that is 100 percent wrong! Profession athletic like Charles Barkley and Michael Jordon bring in big buck to their business and are worth every cent of their huge salaries. City manages don't bring in jack sh*t! ] The contracts also had several regular benefits, including varying amounts of vacation, sick or personal days. The majority provided a vehicle allowance or the use of a city vehicle. Health and life insurance are also common. Five of the top 15 cities either provided a cell phone or a monthly communications stipend for the city managers. Tempe, Surprise and Flagstaff agreed to pay what they termed reasonable moving expenses for managers coming from outside the state. Most cities pay for travel and other expenditures related to city business and membership dues for city/county management associations. Mesa City Manager Christopher Brady, whose contract calls for a $196,898 annual salary, said good compensation and benefits packages can give cities a competitive edge when recruiting the management talent they need. “Those top-level city managers are going to look at what works best for them,” he said. With the poor economy, however, some cut back their salary or benefits. In Marana, Davidson said he and other department heads gave up their car allowances because of a tight budget. Brady said he took a 2 percent pay cut along with other Mesa employees more than two years ago. Some gave up raises promised in their contracts. [ Damn I just want to cry for those guys! They are making $100K+ and they have to do without a car allowance! Man that sucks! I couldn't make ends meet on $100K+ with out a car allowance! ] “All of our management employees didn’t get a raise last year, won’t get a raise this year, won’t get a raise next year,” Cavazos said. [ You know your really getting screwed. Your getting a measly $236,997 a year and won't get a pay raise! Damn I just want to bawl my eyes out for you! ] Marana’s Davidson said it’s about making compensation appropriate to the community. Any backlash to incidents like Bell, such as reducing or eliminating city officials’ pay elsewhere, would drive qualified people away from local government, he said. [ Now that is a good question!!! Where else in the world could they be paid that well for doing nothing! ] “There is a lesson to be learned in Bell, but there shouldn’t be a label or an across-the-board reaction that would hurt individuals who have dedicated their lives to public service,” Davidson said. [ You really mean "individuals who have dedicated their lives to screwing the public" ] EDITOR’S NOTE: Cronkite News Service reporter Steve Doty contributed to this report. City manager salaries: City manager annual salaries, according to contracts reviewed by Cronkite News. Unless otherwise noted, salaries are from fiscal 2009-10. Some managers were paid less because of furloughs or voluntary pay cuts:
*** The salary is drawn from the latest contract provided by the municipality, but officials didn’t return a call to confirm whether the salary listed is from 2009-10. The webmaster took the salary list and sorted it by salary.
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