Finley started as City Manager around 2011, if memory serves me right. So I went and looked at the budget numbers for the 2011/2012 year. Here are some comparisons. (Remember, the make-work position of “Assistant City Manager” was added in there around 2018 or 2019). But the point remains: these are the costs to “manage the city” and they have grown FAR faster than population and inflation have.
TOTAL City manager expense line:
THEN: $133,000 NOW: $331,480 (150% increase in 8 years or 18.75% per year)
CITY MANAGER SALARY (This is JUST Finley):
THEN: $91,798 NOW: $140,000 (52% increase in 8 years or 6.5% per year)
CITY MANAGER RETIREMENT BENEFITS:
THEN: $14,903 NOW: $38,000 (155% increase in 8 years or 19.4% per year)
CITY MANAGER INSURANCE BENEFITS:
THEN: $6,126 NOW: $23,473 (283% increase in 8 years or 35% PER YER!!)
CITY MANAGER CAR ALLOWANCE:
THEN: $6,000 NOW: $12,000 (100% increase in 8 years or 12.5% per year)
No matter how you slice it, the increase in costs to “manage” the City has been tremendous. I doubt there are many taxpaying saps in the private sector here in Lampasas who saw their salaries go up almost 7% per year. Nor did their retirement benefits skyrocket like that either. Yet THEY are the ones paying this burden to the already-overpaid bureaucrats at the top. And CITY COUNCIL are the ones allowing it!!
Speaking of City council, TJ Monroe’s name is on that 2011/2012 budget as well! Christ, lady – how long have you been sitting in that council seat? Maybe it’s time to hang up the cleats and go play bingo on Monday nights instead. NOBODY needs to sit on City council for that long, I don’t care if you’re the smartest person in the world – which she most definitely is not.
Time for some new blood, clearly. Perhaps some actual local business owners could run for a council seat. As it is now, Mike White is the only ONE of SEVEN on there who can say that…and he’s leaving this fall. God help us.