We have looked at comparisons for City manager, ACM and police chief so far.
What is MOST hilarious to me about all this is that Ryan Ward’s “salary study” showed that HE was underpaid by 13% and the police chief was OVERPAID by 7.9% (this is before last year’s COLAs and raises were handed out). But from where I’m sitting, WARD looks to be overpaid far more (35%) than our police chief (maybe 15%).
Laughable!
Let’s move on to the next wildly-overpaid and underworked employee: Economic Development Director Stacey Ybarra.
If the 4% universal raise goes through, Ybarra will be pulling in $89,147. She has not even been with the City for a year and has no letters after her name. What she DOES have is a long history of non-private sector employment.
This comparison will be short, because to be honest – there aren’t many cities our size who even have a position for “Economic Development” on their payrolls!!
Burnet, TX: In 2020, they had a guy as “economic development director” who was pulling down $48,324. He either got canned or left. The NEW chick is making $61,534. Ybarra will be paid 45% more than her Burnet counterpart.
Liberty Hill, TX: $75,760 (population and growth rate FAR surpass Lampasas). Matt Powell was either canned or left last year and a NEW old fart has taken his place. She looks like a disaster waiting to happen – and a LOT of money will definitely be wasted in Liberty Hill. Ybarra will be paid 18% more than her Liberty Hill counterpart.
The funny thing is, I’m pretty sure Ybarra actually LIVES in Liberty Hill! LOL. Either there or Cedar Park. I forget which. She lives closer to L.H. than to Lampasas.
Wait a sec…the Liberty Hill EDD looks EXACTLY like Jim Carey’s secretary in the movie Liar Liar!
Perryton, TX: $64,064 (population 8,150 – larger than Lampasas). Ybarra will be paid 39% more than her Perryton counterpart.
Now, some BIG cities (Austin, Dallas, Round Rock) have EDD positions and pay them ludicrous sums like $200,000 per year. We are not those cities. We are a small town of 7,500 which happens to sit at the intersection of three major highways. Every penny spent of “economic development” is a penny wasted. Just look at the still-empty Business Pork project.
