Scottsdale’s highest employees just got pay raises but not all city council members are pleased about it.
The city council voted to give city charter officers, city employees who answer directly to the council, raises during its June 18 meeting.
Scottsdale’s charter officers are City Manager Jim Thompson, City Attorney Sherry Scott, City Treasurer Sonia Andrews, acting City Auditor Lai Cluff and City Clerk Ben Lane.
In Scott, Cluff and Lane’s cases, the votes were unanimous.
Cluff got a temporary pay increase (which will stay in effect until a permanent city auditor is found) to $172,000.
Scott received a pay increase from $278,012.80 to $319,000.
Lane’s salary went from $180,003.20 to $216,000.
But the vote was split when it came to raises for Thompson and Andrews. The votes were 5-2 to raise Thompson’s pay from $375,000 to $390,000 and Andrews’ from $220,001.60 to $264,000.
Vice mayor Barry Graham and city councilmember Kathy Littlefield were the two votes against giving raises to Thompson and Andrews.
Littlefield said she wants to keep Thompson and Andrews on the team but did not support giving them raises.
Littlefield was cryptic in explaining her motivations, saying only, “I was unhappy with some of the decisions made (by Thompson and Andrews).”
Graham, on the other hand, would not say if he supported removing Thompson and Andrews.
Graham said the problem is Thompson has presided over too many project cost overruns.
“There’s just no accountability for the problems in the city,” Graham said.
“This wouldn’t be acceptable in private companies.”
He said there have been over $150 million in project overruns over the past year, but would not give any specific examples.
“Residents are wondering, where is the accountability?” Graham said.
Councilwoman Betty Janik pointed out that the extra funding for many of the project overruns, like the fire training/joint police and fire training space that was budgeted at $22.48 million and came in at $53.6 million, was approved by the city council, not Thompson.
“There are strict limits on what Jim (Thompson) can and cannot do with budgets,” Janik said.
The project cost overruns have been largely created by record breaking inflation, she said.
However, Graham disagrees.
“I would fundamentally disagree because staff would come back to us over and over and said the work scope changed, they didn’t plan it correctly …,” he said. “If a project is 10% to 20% over budget, you can kind of chalk it up to inflation, even 30% over budget but I mean 100% over budget, 200%, 400%, 500%? It just doesn’t add up,” he said.
Thompson has expressed gratitude for the support he has received.
“I appreciate the continued trust of the mayor and city council,” he said in a written statement. “I look forward to another year serving this great community where I am honored to work alongside the incredible employees who help make Scottsdale a special place.”
And with Andrews, Graham said she has overstepped her bounds by advocating for the .15% Protect and Preserve sales tax on the ballot in
November to pay for upkeep and capital projects at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the city’s 44 parks and WestWorld.
Not only did she advocate for the tax, she added confusing language to mislead voters, Graham said.
“She just went way too far into advocacy when we need a neutral umpire calling balls and strikes,” he said.
But Janik again disagreed with Graham’s point of view.
“(Andrews) has been very careful with what she says and what she doesn’t say,” Janik said. “I believe because Barry is against it, he will do whatever he can to cast dispersions on it with conspiracy theories … This is not the first time he’s done it. There is a certain segment of the population that thrives on conspiracy theories. They’re not true or there is one kernel of truth and it’s gross hyperbole and I think it’s a problem.”
Attempts to reach Andrews were not immediately successful Friday.
Graham said the voters will have the ultimate say on the issues with Thompson and Andrews though.
“This is the process because voters elect a city council to hire and fire charter officers,” he said. “That’s just how the process works. Now we see what voters say.”
Original article can be found here.
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