Commission raises next mayor's salary to $117K

Apr. 30—The Independent Salary Commission has voted to increase the next mayor's salary to $117,000, a 7% jump over the current pay for the position.

The commission passed the increase 6-1 at its meeting Tuesday evening, its third meeting in the past few days. The sole no vote was from Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce CEO Bridget Dixson, who said she would have preferred something closer to $120,000.

Commissioner Ray Sandoval also said he would have preferred the salary to be slightly higher but "there has to be some rationale as to what we did and unfortunately with the amount of time we have, it's good methodology."

Other members suggested keeping the salary flat, as did some members of the public who addressed the commission. However, commission chair Fabian Trujillo said he was concerned that if the commission left it as is the mayor's office would only attract "someone who is very wealthy or retired."

The 7% increase was arrived at from a one-year inflation rate of 3.5% from 2018, when the mayor's salary was last set, and a calculation that Santa Fe's cost of living is 3.6% above the national average.

The mayor's salary was set by the first commission in 2017 at $110,000 by a 4-3 vote at a contentious meeting and was not raised when the second commission met in 2021.

A number of city leaders are more highly paid, including City Manager John Blair, who currently makes $176,877 a year. City councilors currently make slightly over $39,000; councilors are not considered full-time, and the majority either work other jobs or are retired.

Data compiled by city staff for the commission provided salaries and median home prices for other mayors across the country, which did not appear to have much rhyme or reason. While the mayor of Boulder, Colo., makes $130,000 in a city with a median home price of nearly $1 million, the mayor of Pueblo, Colo., makes $150,000 in a city with a $260,000 median home price.

Closer to home, the Santa Fe county manager has a salary of nearly $194,000 and the Santa Fe Public Schools superintendent makes $210,000.

Three people spoke at public comment along with Mayor Alan Webber, who did not propose a dollar amount but provided the commission with information about the duties of the job.

"There's no off switch," said Webber, who estimated he works about 80 hours a week. "There just isn't. That's not to say I don't sleep at night, but for the people who step into that role, you don't clock out at the end of the day."

Webber did not name an amount but said he thinks the salary should be high enough that someone with young children should be able to run for mayor without needing to have another earner in the household.

Commissioner Stefanie Beninato said at Monday's meeting that people who spoke at public comment should base their opinions on the role and not what they think of Webber. That was not heeded by everyone.

Terry Rivera, who identified herself as a lifelong resident of Santa Fe, said she wanted a new mayor because she didn't think Webber was doing a good job of representing the city. She questioned why some leaders were making large salaries while, she said, the city is struggling to keep swimming pools open because of a shortage of lifeguards.

"You have individuals that are earning $130,000 a year — that's ridiculous," she said.

Katherine Rivera said she was in favor of either lowering or keeping the mayor's baseline salary where it is now but tying increases to performance metrics, such as whether the city turns in its audit on time or meets its sustainability goals.

Elizabeth West said she didn't vote for the shift to a strong mayor system "because I didn't think our city was ready for it, and I still feel that way."

West said she liked Rivera's idea, though she was not sure how it would be implemented. While she didn't support lowering the salary, "I think some proof of competency is needed," she said.

Several commissioners said they liked the performance-based idea in theory but did not think they could come up with a good way to implement it in just one evening.

During discussion, Dixson asked at what point commissioners would worry people would run for the job based on the salary, a concern Beninato had raised Monday. Sandoval said he was leaning towards $135,000 as his upper limit.

"I do think there's a risk if you set the salary too high people are running for the salary," he said. "And I do trust voters but at the same time, you never know what you buy."

Webber said he did not think that was a realistic concern.

"I don't think many people will run for this office in order to get rich — it just doesn't work that way," he said.

Asked to discuss his role, Webber said there is rarely a typical week in the job. He said he is usually at the office by 8 a.m. and on non-council nights he tries to be home by 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. to have dinner with his wife.

On City Council nights he is at the office sometimes much later, and he also regularly attends a range of community events. He said his Saturdays are "almost always" full but he tries to keep Sundays for himself, though he uses Sunday evenings to prepare for the week ahead.

Webber says he tries to pay for his own tickets to the community events he attends to support the city's organizations, something he noted not all mayors might be able to do depending on their salary or personal finances.

Webber said he usually attends the yearly U.S. Conference of Mayors but is hesitant about accepting other travel invitations. For the most part "the people of Santa Fe would like to see the mayor in the mayor's office," he said.

Trujillo asked if the responsibilities of mayor have changed while he has been in office. Webber said he couldn't speak for previous mayors but believes expectations have increased since the pandemic for himself and other government officials across the country.

"At a time when people are often disagreeing more, to get to yes takes more time," he said.

Commission members have expressed frustration at the very short timeline they were given to make a decision after being selected on April 19 by the Ethics and Campaign Review Board. City staff said the process was rushed because they struggled to get enough applications for the seven-member board and had to repeatedly extend the deadline.

Commissioner Berl Brechner said he didn't think the process "is fair to us, is fair to the public or is fair to future mayors," and wished they had at least another month to decide.

At the end of Tuesday's meeting, the commission asked Human Resources Director Bernadette Salazar to see if the commission has the authority to meet again to prepare a report for the City Council with recommendations for how to improve the process going forward.

Salazar said she will check with the City Attorney's Office and get back to the commissioners, who she thanked for their work.

"I think doing this, four years from now we will definitely be in a better place," she said.