City to reconsider pay hike for City Manager

Two weeks after approving an unprecedented raise for City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, City Council is slated to reconsider the pay hike.

Prompted by a motion by City Rep. Larry Romero, the Council upped Gonzalez’s annual base salary to $300,000 from about $238,960.

Since then, City Representatives have received a slew of complaints and backlash from constituents who felt the pay raise was too high and was awarded too quickly.

“I went to a meeting with my constituents the next day and they were livid,” said City Rep. Claudia Ordaz in a phone interview Thursday night.

Ordaz initially voted for the pay increase, along with the majority of city council but on Thursday placed the item for Tuesday ‘s city council meeting agenda for reconsideration.

“I can admit when I made a mistake,” said Ordaz, who made it clear she supported Gonzalez and his work but realized the process used to raise his salary was rushed.

She said she did not know other city representatives were going to propose a salary hike two weeks ago and “the public has the right to be upset because this happened so fast.” Ordaz said the public should have been given advanced notice so constituents could share their concerns with council.

Council two weeks ago went into executive session for several hours and upon returning to open session, made the motion to increase Gonzalez’s salary. The agenda item indicated the council would be speaking of Gonzalez’s employment contract but the sudden and steep pay hike caught many people by surprise.

Ordaz’s move to discuss the raise in open session next week opens the door for Mayor Oscar Leeser to veto the pay hike. Leeser has publicly said Gonzalez has done a great job but he does not support such a steep increase for Gonzalez because city employees have not received a pay increase in a couple years.

If Ordaz were to vote to rescind the pay hike, the council would lose the super majority to override the Mayor’s veto.

City Representatives Lily Limon and Carl Robinson voted against the pay increase.

Romero and City Representatives Michiel Noe, Emma Acosta and Cortney Niland have defended the raise citing the millions of dollars Gonzalez has saved the City. According to city officials, Gonzalez has saved more than $6 million by thoughtfully and strategically restructuring the City’s top management and finding capital projects under budget.

City Rep. Peter Svarzbein also voted for the increase.

Supporters of the raise also tout Gonzalez’s ability to put $1 million in the City’s fund balance, more commonly knows as its savings account. Projections show Gonzales is slated to add another $2 million into the fund balance by the end of next fiscal year. Gonzalez has said the city before was taking from its fund balance to the tune of more than $8 million to fund operations.

Gonzalez has also implemented practices to save money and improve services, according the City.

Ordaz said he has done a good job and hopes the council can come to a compromise on Tuesday .

“Maybe we can eventually get him to the pay raise we approved. But let’s improve the process and add more clear performance measures,” she said.