There was quite a todo over City Council's efforts to renegotiate City Manager Wayne Cauthen's contract. Somehow or other it became a race issue rather than a merit issue, business issue, but then race colors just about everything in Kansas City these days.
The City Manager's compensation package looks something like this:
Base Pay: $215,000.00 per year
Incentives: $ 90,000.00 per year
Car Allowance: $ 800.00 per year
Benefits: $
10% of his wages are put into deferred compensation which has a value of about $224,000.00.
6 weeks paid vacation (keep in mind that benefits are generally figured at about 17% of one's base salary.)
All in all - Wayne's benefit package is approximately $350,000.00 per year. Nationwide, the average compensation package for city managers in cities our size or larger is approximately $200,000.00 per year. If Wayne's contract is renewed as is, his base pay will be $247,000.00 per year - but his performance measures (or lack thereof) remain the same.
Dear fellow citizens, are you okay with this? Don't you want better performance measures to ensure getting more bang for our bucks? We still don't have a functioning housing department after The Despot dismantled it with no plan in mind; we have the debaucle of CIMO with neighborhoods and businessess saying City Hall is less responsive than ever. And still we don't want performance measures for the City Manager? This is not a race issue. This is business, and it's business with our money. Wayne has hired his buddies, particularly those from Denver, and the Waynettes at outrageous salaries regardless of whether they can do the job or not. We elected to keep a strong City Manager form of government. We didn't make it a fiefdom with no accountability, no transparency, no integrity. If we want accountability and transparency in government, then demand your City Councilmembers have the courage to address Wayne's contract from the perspective of good business rather than racial bullying. The rumor mill has it that the issue is not really about keeping Wayne as the City Manager, but just to see that he can get as much money out of the situation as possible. Is this what they call honor among thieves or 21st Century Carpetbagging?
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1 comment:
Your blog is a breath of freshly accurate air. Thank you. A couple of facts to further prove your important point here - Benefits usually run upwards of 30% of compensation and I believe his car allowance is $800 a MONTH rather than a year. All the more offensive.
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