Green River is paying its city administrator too much.
This isn’t to say the administrator, Reed Clevenger, isn’t doing a good job. We think he’s done a fine job for Green River in the three years he has worked for the city. However, the pay outline in his new contract doesn’t reflect well with other city administrators across the state nor on a city that has cried poverty for the past few years.
Including Clevenger’s $600 a month vehicle allowance, he will earn $154,490, according to the new contract that is up from $138,612.50 specified in the the previous contract. This increase represents a 10 percent increase in salary over a period of three years. For city employees, it took nearly twice as long to see a 9 percent increase in their salary, from fiscal year 2012 to now. That figure does exclude a total of $5,700 in stipends paid in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
Compared to other city administrators, Green River pays a lot of money, including more than what Jackson will pay its new administrator when the contract starts in June. We initially reported Jackson’s city administrator earned $175,000 a year, as well as a $750 a month vehicle allowance and a $5,000 lump sum payment upon completion of the contract, which came from a contract posted on Jackson’s website.
After the initial story ran last week, a representative of the city called and said the town had recently hired a new town administrator, who starts June 1, at a salary of $145,000 a year. The town’s contract eliminates the vehicle allowance payment, opting to provide the position with a city vehicle.
Green River now pays it’s city administrator more than Jackson, which has an median real estate listing price of $880,000 according to Realtor.com, and exists in a county with a median household income of $75,594, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared to what administrators in Cody and Rawlins earn, roughly the same amount at approximately $110,000, the city pays much better than those municipalities.
The city Council, working with the city’s human resources department, should have come up with a salary range for the position that is in line with what other cities in Wyoming pay their administrators. Agreeing to a pay increase so soon after the city closed its Solid Waste Division may also send a message the Council may not have intended as well; that Clevenger is being rewarded for privatizing a city service. Regardless, what’s done is done and we hope the city’s employees are next in line for more compensation.
Reader Comments(0)