Rich Rising's Rising Riches Part II: Let's Be Responsible and Fair

The performance evaluation and compensation review of the City Manager by the City Council is critical to good government in Geneva. After all, the City Manager reports to the Council. He ought to receive periodic feedback from Council on how he is doing. He also ought to have the opportunity to dialogue with Council about his concerns and goals.

In Part I, we discussed the evaluation/salary setting procedure that has dragged on for months. In this part, we look at Rising’s actual salary. How do his salary increases figure into his total compensation package? What is their impact on the City’s bottom line?

The compensation information we present here, as the fact portion of our fact-based point of view, was provided to Council by the City Comptroller after receiving a direct request from Capraro for that information. It took quite a bit of effort and persistence for the records to be made available. We discussed his request in one of our first posts.

As with the compensation review of any highly paid professional, such information should be routinely provided to Council in the initial stages of the review of Rising. We dare say that prior to Capraro’s request, no one on Council was fully aware of the numbers. That’s odd. As a public official, Rising’s total compensation is even available to the general public, upon request. The Finger Lakes Times could have asked for it. Why is it such a secret?

Let’s take a look.

The 2006 City budget lists the City Manager’s salary as $85,722. But his actual compensation received for 2006 was 11% more than that-- a total of $96, 027, and that does not include a City owned car for all his personal and business travel. (The costs associated with the City Manager’s use of the car for business and personal travel have not been provided to us.) That’s BEFORE he got the retroactive raise we wrote about in Part I. For 2007, he will receive even more—a whopping 27% more than his posted 2006 salary, a total of $108,886!

Check out the details for 2006—the most recent set of complete financial records:

• Salary $85, 722
• Longevity 500.
• Education 1, 250.
• Sick incentive 500.
• Buy-Out: Vacation 3,297.
• Buy-Out: Health insurance 4,758.
  
• TOTAL PAY $96, 027 [Plus the use of the City Car]
  

That’s total compensation of $10,295 more (11%) than what appears as the salary in the budget or what the press ever reports.

Now let’s look at 2007. In February 2007, Council narrowly passed a retroactive 5% salary increase for Mr. Rising. He will therefore receive an additional $4286 this year, as ‘retroactive pay’. He will also receive approximately $714 for the beginning of 2007 and for the balance of 2007, he will be paid at the newly approved salary of $90,008.

If we assume all other compensation will remain steady at the 2006 rate, we project Mr. Rising will receive the following pay for 2007:

• 2007 Salary $90, 008.
• 2006 Retro. $4, 286.
• Longevity 500.
• Education 1,250.
• Sick incentive 500.
• Buy-Out: Vacation 3,297.
• Buy-Out: Health Insurance 4,758.
• TOTAL PAY $104,599. [Projected for 2007, not including his use of the City Car].
  

If another 5% raise were to be awarded (retroactive to 1/1/07), the City Manager would receive an additional $4500. That would bring his 2007 compensation to a grand total of approximately $110,000. The evaluation process is not yet complete. Council must deal with economic realities. Another 5% raise would not be responsible, and because it’s a much greater percentage increase than other city employees, it isn’t fair either.