Pay higher for area city managers

Salaries for local city managers are well above the state average.

North Texas city managers have their hands full fixing potholes and coping with political pressures, but they can take heart from one fact: Their salaries are well above -- in some cases far above -- the state average.

The average salary for a city manager in Texas is $83,779, according to the Texas Municipal League, which tracks salaries annually.

In contrast, the lowest annual salary among 17 North Texas communities surveyed was $93,635 for Tom Muir, acting city manager of Haltom City.

Chris Hartung, a former Denton city manager who works for a private city-management headhunting firm in Dallas, said the contrast is not surprising.

Competition for professional, well-trained city managers is intense in the Metroplex because of the number of large and medium-sized cities in the area, he said. As a result, candidates ask for as much as the market will bear.

Some of the numbers are surprising. Trent Petty, town manager for tiny Westlake -- population 207 -- is paid $152,410 annually, far above the $143,000 paid to Larry Cunningham, the city manager of North Richland Hills, population 60,000.

The contrast is ironic because Petty was an assistant to Cunningham in the 1980s when Cunningham was city manager of Lubbock.

Cunningham said Petty deserves the salary because he has to manage a small town that is poised to undergo major growth. Officials are involved in efforts to bring a large mall to Westlake.

In addition to having economic development duties, Petty is also CEO of Westlake Academy, a new 196-student charter school operated by the city, he said.

"I'm proud of what we are doing in Westlake, and the compensation package is fair based on my experience," Petty said.

Despite their relatively high salaries, area city managers are subject to the same political pressures as their counterparts across the state and nation.

That fact was driven home recently when the Haltom City Council dismissed City Manager Richard Torres. He earned $117,563 before he was fired. Torres was out of town last week and could not be reached to comment.

In a memo to the council, Torres wrote that he believed that his job had been threatened by Councilman Trae Fowler in retaliation for the city's decision to keep $25,000 in escrow money from Fowler's company, North Texas Land Development. Fowler had requested that the council discuss Torres' job performance.

Torres wrote that Fowler had pressured him in numerous phone calls, as recently as Oct. 6, to release the escrow money. The city kept the money because city officials said Fowler's company did not complete drainage improvements at the Legend Pointe subdivision on time.

Fowler has disputed Torres' version of events and said he did not pressure the city manager.

David Tees, director of training and services at the school of urban and public affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington, said the episode illustrates one of the dominant facts of life for city managers: They serve at the pleasure of their mayors and city councils.

"The downside of being a city manager is, you're at the whim of your political bosses," Hurst City Manager Allan Weegar said."When things are going great, things are good with you and your relationship with that city council. When there's issues, you can always be brought in as a reason why things are going bad. That's why the city management profession is a fairly short-lived tenure."

It was not the first time that an area city manager has been dismissed.

In 2000, the Bedford City Council fired Susan Thorpe. Council members who voted for the dismissal declined to say why, citing a confidentiality agreement with Thorpe.

Chuck Barnett was promoted from deputy city manager to replace her.

The average tenure for a city manager is six to seven years nationwide, Tees said

That may sound daunting, but Tees said the mobility can work to the advantage of people who want to move up rapidly.

Even city administrators who are fired can expect to work again, he said.

"Frequently, managers are fired, but just as often they can land another job somewhere because the reasons for firing are more likely to be political and are viewed that way," said Tees. "So there's a lot of forgiveness within the profession when a manager loses his job, so he can frequently find another one."

Despite the challenges of the job, Cunningham said he finds it worthwhile. The satisfaction comes in seemingly mundane things, like patching potholes or listening to residents' concerns, he said.

"I feel a sense of accomplishment when we're able to provide some quality services for our citizens. That's what keeps me moving," Cunningham said.

Annual salaries of area city and town managers

-- Information provided by the cities