As we think about our crime issues and budget shortfalls, I thought that I’d share a screenshot of the top earning employees of the city of Raleigh.
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Someone named Evan Raleigh is an assistant City Manager?? He should be MAYOR!
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Yeah and they call him Mr. Raleigh in some of the Council meetings I’ve seen. I love it too!
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He’d have to take a hefty pay cut.
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Just curious what your intention was by sharing this information?
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Idk, I can see it being somewhat laughable that we can’t pay to have enough police to fill our desired quota of active duty officers, but the City Manager alone makes a 1/3 of a million a year. That IS a huge salary… I’m not “mad” about it - but I can definitely see the case where folks might say “So we can’t afford enough cops to keep Moore Square from becoming a warzone, but the City Manager can make HOW MUCH MONEY and yet arguably not “manage” the city well enough considering we cannot afford enough cops???”
That’s certainly a conversation.
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It’s akin to a billionaire CEO of some mega-corporation insisting that he cannot pay his employees more money because his company is not making enough profits… while he still collects his billions of dollars salary every year. Not the same thing, of course, but I can see where the general public might make this connection when the city insists that property taxes need to be continuously raised because “we can’t afford enough cops” while the city manager (alone) makes, again, a third of a million dollars a year
I mean you get what you pay for. If we want someone competent, we need to pay them appropriately. For reference, the city manager of Charlotte makes $500k. I have no issues with this. Many of these people could probably make a ton more in private industry, so we need to be in the ballpark.
NC City Manager Salary Comparison
| City | City Manager | Annual Base Salary | Approximate Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | Marcus Jones | $499,210 | 900,000 |
| Raleigh | Marchell Adams-David | $356,375 | 480,000 |
| Greensboro | Nathaniel “Trey” Davis | $300,000 | 300,000 |
| Winston-Salem | William Pate | $296,400 | 250,000 |
| Durham | Wanda Page | $280,000 | 285,000 |
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I think the salary is reasonable for someone who is managing almost a $2 billion budget and oversees close to 4,000 employees. I’m not sure why we expect folks in public service to work for a pittance. Would you do that job for $100,000? I know I wouldn’t.
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We should not be afraid to ask that the services we receive from our city government be excellent. These are the folks who are accountable to us as local tax payers. Whether you rent or own, you are paying taxes and fees to run this city.
I thought that I’d stand back a “minute” and see how folks reacted to me posting this publicly.
Our city manager and the top three under her are among the top earners in the city, and we are paying over a million dollars annually for City Management leadership. These folks are ultimately accountable for how our city is run. Think about how much money that is when we can’t get trash cans emptied in city parks, no less address safety issues that don’t seem to improve. See @GucciLittlePig chart above for our city manager’s current pay. The one I posted is clearly old, and I did find an article that said our city manager got back to back yearly 10% pay raises, and that it was controversial.
Now let’s talk about public safety.
Estella Patterson is no longer chief of police. That role is now held by Rico Boyce who makes about 256K a year. He seems to have 3 on his leadership team that make ~200K a year each. That’s over $800K a year for Police leadership, and this is only among the top 16 earning city employees.
I don’t begrudge anyone making bank, but I do expect commensurate service levels in return.
While our mayor and city council are the city’s “client” of sorts & they make decisions and give direction on our behalf, they are fulfilling that role for a salary that pays less per year than working full time as an associate at Costco. Well, maybe the mayor makes a bit more but not by much.
PS: Nobody is asking the city manager to do her job for 100K.
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Doesn’t the city manager basically run the city day to day. I know the mayor and council set the policy and direction, but the person actually responsible for implementing it is the city manager. Should probably be a well paid position.
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It should be well paid and the city should be well run. So far nobody has said that it shouldn’t be well paid. However, we have had a lot of recent examples of how the city could be better run.
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Except you, John! Why do you constantly say things without actually saying them!
/s
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You are welcome to interpret it that way.
What I am saying is that we should be getting service commensurate with what we pay.
I agree that residents should expect good services and that city leadership should be accountable for results. That’s part of how local government should work. At the same time, we have to recognize how much these positions actually oversee. Unlike a private company that’s focused on one product or service, a city manager is responsible for everything from public safety and transportation to housing, parks, sanitation, water systems, economic development, and a lot more. They’re also working within budgets and policy priorities set by elected officials, so many service outcomes are shaped by funding decisions and competing community priorities, not just the actions of one person.
Also, these senior leadership salaries can seem high when you look at them on their own, but they usually make up a very small portion of a city’s overall budget. (maybe like .0007% or something) In most cities, even getting rid of the city manager’s salary entirely would make no noticeable difference in taxes or service levels. I think you’re asking the question of whether the city is being run effectively, attracting qualified people, and delivering value to residents. That’s a fair discussion to have, but it’s different from looking at compensation numbers and assuming they’re the reason for service problems.
I will disagree that the city as a whole is being poorly run. We are a top-rated city for a reason, and while there are examples we can cherry-pick like “this trash can is overflowing, it’s a symptom that the whole city is trash!”, I think, overall, we’re in a good spot.
And as far as no one saying they’re being overpaid - be serious. You wouldn’t have posted that without it being implied.
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I don’t disagree with you nor @Justin6882, @Kanatenah etc - it SHOULD be a well-paying job!
However, I’m just saying I can see where @John might be coming from in that PUBLIC PERCEPTION will wane towards the negative when the city MANAGER cannot manage the budget (aka “we can’t afford enough cops”) and continuously pull more from homeowners with more and more property taxes while still pulling in her triple 6-figure salary.
To reiterate - I am not mad about her salary. Just saying I can see where PUBLIC PERCEPTION might land when you look at the big picture.
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To be honest, I didn’t know city managers and other senior city leaders made this much. I think being city manager of a city like Raleigh is a dream job. To answer the rhetorical question, yeah I’d do it for $150k. You’re not the face of the city either, the mayor gets to be that. Literal dream job.
I hear a lot about the grind in the public sector and relatively low pay and bad hours for folks in city planning, but I hope some of y’all stick it out, work your way up, and become big city leaders making this kind of money. There are people on this forum who could totally fill these roles some day. I’m rooting for you!!
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Are you qualified to be a city manager? I can assure you that most people who are would not do the job for $150k. I work in local government (not Raleigh), and these types of positions are high-pressure, high-stakes, stressful jobs and to get qualified people, as was said earlier, you have to pay them well.
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No, I’m not, couldn’t you tell from my post? The data clearly shows what the salary range needs to be to lure competitive talent. I just said I would do it for $150k because it’s my dream job. I wouldn’t need $300k personally.
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Work from home definitely impacts the lunch time restaurant queue, but even if a business is considering Raleigh office space, most are prioritizing other areas first. North Hills doesn’t have this lunchtime patron problem.
Residential is another factor. Most folks I interact with wanting a downtown-like living experience completely dismiss the Fayetteville St - Moore Square area no matter how hard I sell the positives.
Around 2014-2019 it felt like DTR was on a trajectory towards having the type of “always active living, working, playing” city core that some on this thread have envisioned. People wanted to live in those areas at the time - sip a beer at Paddy Os, watch a game at London Bridge, listen to some live music at the Oxford, or dance to some throwbacks at Coglins.
“Drunktown USA” was somehow the pinnacle of people wanting to spend their time in the core of DTR.
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