Rep. wants raises for city employees

make less money a year than the city manager made from a recent raise. but at least one city rep says she wants to improve that. abc-7’s maria garcia is with a story new at six! through an open records request, we got a list of all the city employees who make less than 60- thousand dollars. that’s the combined amount of tommy gonzalez’s recent raises. but city rep emma acosta says that just how the council made sure gonzalez made as much money as other city managers, they want to do the same thing for the thousands of employees he manages: “14:01 we need to stop lookin at ourselves as a small city because we’re not a small city anymore. the 19th largest in the united states. fifth largest in texas and so i think we need to step up and start keeping employees salaries equal to what other cities are paying.” acosta is proposing the city conduct a market based salary analysis that looks at how much money different types of city employees earn in comparable cities. she wants the council to commit to bringing their salaries to that level – through a continuous cost of living adjustment in next years budget. as for some employees making less than the city manager’s raise, she pointed the city manager is astronomically more demanding, with massive responsib emma acosta: “this is not a small job. this is a budget of 750 million which is three quarters of a billion dollars on an annual basis. you have six thousand employees that you have to make sure you manage well. you have what other cities don’t have which is the largest military base right next to you. ” the list we got shows that more than 5-thousand employees make less than 61-thousand dollars. but that includes fire and police – who than 5-thousand employees make less than 61-thousand dollars. but that includes fire and police – who negotiate their salaries through unions. the city council recently approved a one- thousand dollar christmas bonus for city employees this year, a wellness program where employees can earn 150-dollars a month. and other cash incentives for employees that range from 100-to 300- dollars for additional duties, longevity and perfect attendance. stormtrack weather now — chief