Tacoma council passes salary bumps for city employees. City manager gets another raise
Tacoma City Manager Elizabeth Pauli will receive a raise, her second in less than a year, after the City Council approved an updated compensation plan Dec. 13.
The council approved Pauli’s annual wage of $287,872 in May during her performance review. In 2023, she will make a yearly wage of $309,566, which is a 7.5 percent salary increase. The city manager can make up to $376,501 under the plan.
Tacoma Public Utilities Director Jackie Flowers will also receive a raise under the updated compensation plan. In 2023, the director will make $409,677, a 5.6% wage increase. The director salary ranges up to $498,243. Flowers currently makes $388,003 annually.
Deputy Mayor Catherine Ushka, District 4, acknowledged Pauli’s recent raise but said the new compensation plan ensures the city is paying its employees fairly.
“During my lifetime, there haven’t been a lot of female leaders in cities, there haven’t been a lot of female leaders of utilities, but a lot of my lifetime, women have been asked to take on more and more responsibility but not with any equal pay,” she said. “This is making sure that the women that lead our organizations are getting equal pay as anybody else in the position.”
Pauli is the first woman to serve as city manager in Tacoma.
Non-represented city employees will receive a salary increase under the compensation plan ordinance, which will begin Jan. 2.
The wage increases were included in 2023-2024 budget that passed last month.
Each job title has a salary range with nine steps. For non-represented employees, each step is an annual 5% raise, except the last two, which are 2.5% raises.
In 2019, the council directed the city’s human resources department to evaluate the compensation plan to ensure pay equity and accessibility.
“We went out to the market to see if we’re paying all of our employees, if we’re paying them the right amount of money based on their job classification,” Mayor Victoria Woodards said. “In my opinion as we look out to both the public sector and the private sector, people are being poached and moved all the time, and we always need to make sure as a city that we’re paying competitively with other cities.”
The Human Resources Department worked with a consultant, which recommended modernizing the current non-represented classification system and comparing the city’s compensation and benefits to the current market – both public and private sector.
Alice Phillips, business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 483, asked the council during public comment Tuesday to pass the ordinance.
“We may be a union, but we’re for workers’ rights, and I implore you not to hold up this ordinance,” Phillip said. “The non-represented employees of the City of Tacoma deserve the pay increases that are in here.”
Phillips said there were classifications the HR department and Local 483 were still working through, but the union had gotten a commitment from HR. She asked for the same commitment from council.
Ushka said the council would stand behind Phillips.
The Substitute Ordinance No. 28862 adoption included:
Adding human resources director approval for pay higher than the minimum rate.
Changing the time for consideration for a wage increase from six months to 12 months for employees hired or promoted after Dec. 31.
Making all non-represented classifications eligible for automatic step increases, except the city manager and public utilities director.
Allowing a one-time, lump-sum payment for eligible employees who may receive less than a 5% increase in pay, effective Jan. 2.
Allowing annual lump sum payments, with human resources director recommendation and City Council approval, for employees whose pay is over the range maximum and had their pay frozen.
This story was originally published December 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM.