Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is proposing healthy pay raises for his appointees at a time when the financial markets are in turmoil.
Although the proposed increases are giving a little heartburn to City Council members, who must give final approval, they seem inclined to support the requests.
The council’s General Government Committee on Tuesday forwarded the pay raises on to the full council for final consideration.
The mayor is proposing that five of his appointees would get raises of 4.55 percent. Those salary increases were projected for City Attorney David Fine, environmental health manager Nancy Severson, public works director Bill Vidal, finance director Claude Pumilia and community planning director Peter Park.
The annual salaries would increase to $141,284 for Fine, $120,900 for Severson, $172,614 for Vidal, $147,706 for Pumilia and $133,562 for Park.
Two others, safety manager Al LaCabe and the director of excise and licenses, Awilda Marquez, would receive salary increases of 6.9 percent. The salary for Marquez would jump to $97,734 annually, and LaCabe’s would increase to $152,906 annually.
One Cabinet officer, Kevin Patterson, the new parks and recreation director, would see an 18 percent salary increase, up to $130,546 for next year. Of that amount, 6.9 percent stemmed from his exceptional rating when he was director of general services. The remainder stemmed from a promotional raise associated with his new position and the rounding up of his salary.
Two others, human services director Pat Wilson-Coker and aviation director Kim Day, are new hires and therefore aren’t getting the typical salary increases under their negotiated salary terms.
Kelly Brough, the mayor’s chief of staff, said that many of the salaries remained below the median for such positions, according to a survey conducted by the city’s Career Service Authority.
She stressed that the mayor’s Cabinet works hard and has performed well over the past year.
Council President Jeanne Robb said she would be more concerned if the performance of the Cabinet officers were so poor that no raises were justified.
Council member Chris Nevitt said that although council members had received a flurry of e-mails complaining about the raises, he would support them.
“People who work for the city from the top to the bottom do a great job for not as much money as they should be getting,” he said.
Brough said the administration forwarded the salary requests to the council in September, before the recent turmoil in the financial markets. She said that if the economy slows significantly, the administration will be able to address the downturn in a comprehensive way in 2009.
Councilwoman Carol Boigon said consideration of the salary proposals was delayed while the committee she chairs considered taking a stance on ballot issues on the November ballot.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
