By Andy Sevilla.
Buda’s city manager and San Marcos’ public services administrator both took in $35,000 raises this fiscal year, far surpassing pay increases to every other city employee within their local governments, according to documents released last week.
Tom Taggart, San Marcos public services administrator, was the recipient of the largest pay hike, taking in a $35,048 raise, compared to all city employees in San Marcos, Kyle and Buda, city documents revealed. Taggart’s raise amounted to a 28 percent hike to his $124,696 salary last fiscal year.
Buda City Manager Kenneth Williams, the city’s top administrator, was awarded a $34,949 raise this fiscal year, taking in the highest salary percentage jump – 30 percent – compared to all other local government employees in Buda, Kyle and San Marcos, documents released through open records requests showed.
Most department heads in Buda also received raises in the thousands this fiscal year, as city officials moved to bring employee salaries up to competitive levels, according to Mayor Todd Ruge.
Buda officials conducted a salary survey of employee salaries in Kyle, San Marcos, Seguin, New Braunfels and Pflugerville, all of which compete with Buda in attracting employees, Ruge said. Based on those results, city leaders approved raises for employees.
Buda’s library director received more than an $11,000 raise this fiscal year, city documents showed. Buda’s public works director and the assistant city manager also saw more than $8,000 and $7,000 added to their paychecks, respectively.
San Marcos department heads also were afforded big salary hikes this fiscal year. Assistant City Manager Collette Jamison received a raise of more than $10,000, while Police Chief Howard Williams’ annual salary increased by just under 9,500. San Marcos community service administrator and the city’s finance director both received salary increases of more than $8,000.
The city of Kyle was less generous with employee pay raises this fiscal year compared to Buda and San Marcos, salary figures showed.
Kyle Planning Director Sofia Nelson received the highest pay jump this fiscal year, taking in a $7,447.17 – 10 percent – increase to her salary, according to city figures, though that increase was an outlier when compared to other departments heads, most of whom received less than two percent pay jumps.
Kyle’s top earner City Manager Lanny Lambert received less than a two-percent pay jump for a total $126,436 salary.
Kyle Assistant City Manager James Earp, who saw a 1.8 percent pay increase this fiscal year, is the city’s second highest top earner at $118,006. Earp, however, could soon earn a salary near the $180,000 mark, as he is one of five finalists for the San Marcos city manager position.
Jim Nuse, San Marcos’ present city manager, is scheduled to leave his post Jan. 2. Nuse, who manages the city of more than 50,000 residents, according to census figures, earns a salary of $180,939, city documents show.
San Marcos hosted a meet-and-greet meeting with the public and the five finalists on Monday and council members interviewed the candidates in executive session Tuesday. A finalist to fill Nuse’s position has not yet been determined.
