Recent off a voter-approved Metropolis Constitution modification that eliminated constraints on the town supervisor’s wage, the San Antonio Metropolis Council is planning to revisit Metropolis Supervisor Erik Walsh’s pay subsequent week, in line with a gathering agenda.
Walsh, 55, has held the position since 2019. He presently makes $374,400 per yr — the very best quantity potential underneath an previous metropolis coverage that capped the town supervisor’s wage at 10 occasions the quantity of the lowest-paid, full-time metropolis worker.
The town proposes rising that to $461,000.
Within the Nov. 5 election, greater than 54% of voters determined that salary-setting energy ought to be positioned again within the council’s palms.
Metropolis Council now plans to revisit Walsh’s wage at its common assembly on Dec. 19, sources mentioned. The merchandise has not but been added to the council’s assembly agenda.
Walsh, who labored his manner up via numerous roles in San Antonio metropolis authorities, got here in at a a lot decrease wage than his predecessor, Sheryl Sculley, whose base pay was $475,000 when she left the position.
Sculley turned a political goal of the San Antonio firefighters’ union as she labored to scale back the ballooning prices of well being care protection for firefighters and paramedics in its labor contract. Their disagreements led the union to collect signatures for a 2018 constitution modification that not solely capped her place’s wage, however restricted the town supervisor’s tenure to eight years.
Sculley resigned shortly after voters authorised the measure, so the adjustments by no means utilized to her.
As an alternative, they paved the way in which for a number of metropolis leaders to compete for her job — however at one of many lowest metropolis supervisor salaries amongst Texas’ main metro areas.
Austin’s metropolis supervisor will get $470,000, Fort Price’s will get $435,000.
All six of the then-assistant and deputy and assistant metropolis managers, together with Walsh, nonetheless threw their names within the hat.
If voters hadn’t authorised undoing the 2018 charter adjustments this yr via Proposition C, Walsh would have needed to vacate the position by February 2027.
Enterprise teams spent cash backing the change, arguing that it was a wanted for San Antonio to stay aggressive when staffing an vital position.
The hearth union and a few members of the general public argued towards the concept, saying the town already had the instruments it wanted to offer Walsh a elevate: By elevating the salaries of the lowest-paid workers.
Potential bonus
Due to the constraints on the town supervisor place, Walsh’s contract didn’t point out efficiency bonuses.
Efficiency-based bonuses for the town supervisor had been launched in Sculley’s 2016 contract, however former Councilman Greg Brockhouse (D6) — who had labored for the hearth union — referred to as the efficiency evaluate and bonus system into query. Sculley in the end declined to just accept the final bonus she was eligible for, price as much as $100,000, for her work in 2018.
Earlier than 2018, the town supervisor’s efficiency evaluations had been carried out in individual by council throughout a closed govt session.
That yr, Mayor Ron Nirenberg established a survey and scoring rubric to evaluate the efficiency of the town supervisor, metropolis clerk, and metropolis auditor — all workers appointed by council. However a report commissioned by the town and launched in 2019 confirmed Sculley’s wage was inside vary of comparable companies and really helpful one other set of efficiency metrics for council to make use of when reviewing metropolis managers.
It is unclear what the formal course of might be used to grade Walsh’s efficiency or award bonuses sooner or later.
Walsh’s present contract states that he’ll be reviewed yearly, however his efficiency hasn’t been a serious public dialogue for the council within the years that wage will increase had been off the desk.
