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Against the backdrop of resident disapproval and requests that the city of Redwood City spend its dollars on needed programs rather than additional pay increases for top administrators, the Redwood City Council unanimously approved salary increases for its city manager and city attorney on Monday night.
The decision to increase the top earners’ salaries came shortly after 10 p.m. before some of the final agenda items.
Under the new payment schedule, City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz and City Attorney Veronica Ramirez will receive a 10% salary increase and a 6% salary increase, respectively. Stevenson Diaz has served the city as manager since being appointed on Oct. 12, 2015; Ramirez assumed her role as city attorney on Sept. 6, 2016, according to city documents.
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Stevenson Diaz's base salary will increase 6% from $358,047 to $379,530 starting Oct. 24, 2023, with an additional $14,321 or 4% added to her annual base salary beginning Oct. 14, 2024, according to a staff report. Ramirez will see her salary increase from $305,369 to $323,691 effective retroactively on Sept. 4, 2023.
The salary increases were recommended by Mayor Jeff Gee's ad hoc committee for compensation for council appointees on Sept. 27. The city council directly hires two employees: the city manager and the city attorney.
"We want to make sure there's a message being sent, especially as our city manager recruits for a number of vacancies, that we want to be known as a city that pays fairly for great work. …, Gee said. “We have, I think, seven vacant positions that are being recruited for. That's a big deal, in a city of our size that are all concurrent recruitments."
Each year, employees may qualify for merit increases of two to 7% depending on their performance, Gee said.
Numerous residents had other opinions or opposed the increases outright, however.
"Please do not approve yet another double-digit raise for top city executives given that it appears completely unnecessary and we cannot afford it, said Chris Robell, who is a retired CFO, “Earlier today I emailed all of you the data showing city manager compensation throughout the state, and of 569 cities in the state Redwood City's city manager is already the 26th highest paid.”
Residents are getting hit from every angle, he added.
Steve Howard, husband to council member Diane Howard, argued that how the city approaches pay raises is flawed.
“When the lowest paid person gets moved to the median the median moves up. Then when the new lowest paid person gets moved to the median the median moves up again,” he argued in a letter to council. “This upward spiral continues and may have no relationship to the value of the job, the individual's performance, or the financial success of the city.”
In a letter to the city council, Kevin Thorpe challenged the reasoning behind the proposed salary increases for the city attorney and city manager. He questioned the merit-based criteria employed for the pay hikes and raised concerns about their timing, particularly in light of recent settlements with Docktown residents.
Stevenson Diaz and Ramirez last received a salary increase in 2022. In 2021, Stevenson Diaz and Ramirez received pay raises of 10% to $334,250 and $285,067, respectively. Before then, they last received a wage increase in 2019.
According to Redwood City Human Resources Director Michelle Katsuyoshi, the city this year engaged a professional facilitator to support the council's annual review of the city manager's and city attorney's job performances. A survey of compensation in other cities found that Redwood City's manager compensation is 9.88% below the median of the total compensation survey. The city attorney's pay is below the median by 6.51%.
Diane Howard said she would support the pay increases.
"What I have come to understand over the years is how important it is to have good leadership, and a good leadership who can lead a city in good times and in bad,” she said. “This has been a real difficult couple of years for us. And I can't thank our city attorney and our city manager enough for being the kind of leaders that they are, that they work with our staff. They are working to make sure that we have enough people. They're trying to hire people to help us do the job of the city. Running a city is difficult – very difficult – and the competition is fierce," she said.
A neighboring city of a much smaller size just gave a sizable salary raise to their city manager, she noted, although she didn't name the municipality.
"And I think in comparison, we're being modest. So I know it's difficult to swallow large numbers, but I don't want to lose our city manager. I do not want to lose our city attorney,” Howard said. “I value them. … I am going to vote for this because I'm hoping that they will continue to work for us for many years to come, because they know how much we appreciate what they bring to Redwood City."
