One of the “brilliant” arguments for the ever-increasing salaries of City Hall Big Wigs is that “we need to keep jacking up their salaries or they’ll leave for greener pastures – why just look what Marble Falls pays!”
I don’t care what Marble Falls pays. It’s apples to oranges. We might be the same size, but we are NOT the same kind of city. Let’s go to salary.com and type in “assistant City manager” and see what comes up….
Keep in mind, our own Ryan “Dwight Schrute” Ward will be making over $125,000 after this last round of largesse by City council:
Burnet, TX: $81,198 (population 6,700 – comparable to Lampasas)
Richland Hills, TX: $77,567 (population 8,450 – larger than Lampasas)
Lake Dallas, TX: $65,811 (population 7,850 – comparable to Lampasas)
When Schrute was hired in January of 2022, The Dispatch even pointed out that the nationwide salary range was $72,000 to $96,500
There were PLENTY of applicants for this cushy job. So of course, Finley decided to start him out at $110,000 – or $25,000 OVER the mid-point.
Now his salary has jumped 14.4% in less than two years – all the way up to over $125,000,
Add in the benefits, and Ward costs the City $175,000 per year. Every year. For an ASSISTANT position, mind you.