One joy of being city manager is having everyone crawl through your pay package.
A city manager’s salary and benefits are posted in public. The manager makes good money but far less than the worst Kings player.
The shelf life of city managers and basketball scrubs can run about the same. As for responsibilities and consequences, there’s no contest.
Ambiguities over city manager pay vs. value make residents jealous, frustrated or both. Especially in Sacramento, where $420,684 flows to the city manager each year.
Is the city manager worth all that dough when homeless tents crowd sidewalks? Is anyone worth that much?
As Sacramento prepares to welcome a new city manager, let me share a secret.
Whatever the new city manager gets paid is meaningless. The best response to breathless media reports about the city manager’s salary is to scroll to weather and sports.
At City Hall or Golden 1 Center and countless public agencies and private businesses in between, hefty pay packages guarantee neither competence nor success. Just ask the Kings.
Or ask Howard Chan, who ended an eight-year run as city manager last December when the City Council voted not to extend his contract.
Chan endured media scorn over his pay, which since February 2022 was locked at $400,000 a year.
In other words, the City Council felt public pressure to fire Chan because he accepted the salary the City Council gave him three years earlier.
You might notice a theme. I’m discussing hypocrisy among the nine elected councilmembers who lead Sacramento.
With hypocrisy in mind, it’s important to note the City Council wasn’t finished with its duplicity when Chan cleared out his office.
Four months after cutting Chan loose amid grumbles he was paid too much, the City Council increased the salary for Chan’s replacement. It grew from $400,000 to $420,684.
No joke. The City Council gave the incoming city manager a 5% pay raise without knowing the name of the incoming city manager.
The raise was approved before the city manager search stumbled forward. There was no top candidate poised in the wings. No uniquely talented chief executive playing hard to get. No contract negotiation hung up on an extra $20,684.
City Council members negotiated against themselves for the new city manager’s pay raise. I suppose they heard from an executive talent recruiter who said nobody any good would take the job for a dollar less than $420,684.
I’ve known Howard Chan for almost 20 years, a period that covers most of the time he spent wading through swamps at City Hall. I can’t say he’s a friend. But he’s somebody I respect as honest and hardworking.
The other day, when I talked to Chan about controversies over the city manager’s salary, he didn’t say much. He confirmed his old salary. He wouldn’t discuss the City Council’s hypocrisy that forced and darkened his exit.
He said he was proud of his time at City Hall and looked forward to new adventures.
City Council members never explained why they dumped Chan. I bet they won’t explain anything when they introduce the next city manager.
They will offer vague platitudes and optimistic generalities. As for details, forget it. This group can’t articulate magical thoughts.
Howard Chan made plenty of mistakes. The next manager will stumble too. Hopefully not fall flat.
Directing a budget that tops $1.6 billion, taking orders from nine rudderless City Council members, handling 11 labor unions and 6,000 employees is a job that wrecks expectations.
I don’t know if $420,684 is too much for a city manager. Or not enough. I know it won’t matter.
Many years ago, I asked a Kings player—the worst player—if he felt guilty taking his salary, which was more than $420,684.
He laughed and said, “Why would I feel guilty taking what they pay me?”
He wasn’t great at basketball. He might have been sharp enough to run the city.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
