Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson is in line for a big raise.
Council members are preparing to give the manager a 14.5 percent raise over the course of the next two years to bring his pay in line with the city’s newly adopted pay scale.
Anderson, who said he planned to give half the raise to agencies that help those in need, will likely receive a 7.65 percent pay hike retroactive to Jan. 5, followed by a 6.41 percent raise next January. That’s as close to the 15 percent maximum he was allowed while staying within the steps of the city’s pay scale.
The move will bring his salary from $200,450 to $215,779 this year, and raise it to $229,611 next year. Anderson also receives a $6,600 car allowance.
Council members are expected to vote on the raise next Tuesday.
Mayor Bill Baarsma acknowledged that the move might not be popular with taxpayers given the current recession. But Baarsma told his colleagues Tuesday during a committee of the whole meeting that it comes as a result of a deliberative process.
“There’s a rationale behind it that you can argue if people ask, even if they won’t buy it,” Baarsma said.
The City Council adopted a sweeping new set of pay scales last year following an extensive study of comparable pay and benefit packages. Hundreds of employees received raises in order to bring their pay in line with the market.
Raises were capped at 15 percent except in rare cases where a larger raise was required to move an employee onto the lowest rung of the new scale.
Anderson, who took a pay cut when he came to Tacoma from Des Moines, Iowa, in 2005, was at the top of Tacoma’s old pay scale, but 17.43 percent below the top of the new scale, which is $235,373.
While other city employees moved onto the new scale at the start of the year, council members did not immediately boost the manager’s pay.
Anderson’s raise comes at the recommendation of the council’s performance evaluation committee.
In addition to the citywide pay and benefits study, council members looked at other executive pay scales for a “gut check,” Baarsma said.
What some other local government CEOs bring in, according to Tacoma’s research:
• Tacoma schools Superintendent Art Jarvis earns $240,000 in salary plus $12,000 in deferred compensation, and a $8,400 car allowance.
• Port of Tacoma Executive Director Tim Farrell makes $220,000 and has a car provided.
• Metropolitan Park District Executive Director Jack Wilson makes $153,456 in salary plus $17,000 in deferred compensation and a $4,800 car allowance.
• Tacoma Public Utilities Director Bill Gaines earns $294,382 plus $15,000 in deferred compensation.
Jason Hagey: 253-597-8542
blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics
SOUNDINFO
To see a searchable database of pay rates for Tacoma and other public employees and the 2008 compensation study, go to thenewstribune.com/soundinfo.
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