John Shay's Salary?

[Eve Alone]

What was Ludington's City Manager John Shay's reported salary, as paid by local taxpayers, in 2008, according to his W-2 for that year?  I know; I just want to see whether anyone else knows, can accurately guess, or think they can find that information. 

Be careful, the total might differ from what clues you can find on the web from the city website or the Daily News.  Here's links to both of those sources:

http://www.ludington.mi.us/

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/

 

Don't include the hefty amount of fringe benefits he gets, just the salary. Reportedly, he has frozen city worker's salaries the last two years.  Is there any reason he would be so reluctant to show Ludington citizens the W-2s for 2009 and 2010 without placing unlawful fees on an FOIA request?

[AQUAMAN]

If memory serves me without links, I think he was at $80K or so per year, not including perks and benefits. It's over $90K now if I'm not mistaken.

[Eve Alone]

It was reported to be at the $80K level recently.  And it didn't decrease.  Any others?

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

132k plus or minus a few... per  this link..

http://www.ludington.mi.us/Ludington/2011_Budget.pdf

 

The only thing I see in the budget under his section that I have a question about is the item called membership and dues. I am sure I could ask but I do not know of any membership inherent to the job of city manager that he should not absorb as part of the cost of doing his job and therefor a tax write off.

 

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=City_Manager/Salary

 

A little high but not as bad as the case of the ones in CA making 1/4 million in pay alone.

 

People in Ludington keep electing these folks so I guess they feel its worth it??

 

As far as the rest of the fringe benefits if you took any average employee and calculated the employers cost of the health care and such you would end up with similar numbers in the healthcare and such department.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

P.S do I think he is worth that much? Now that is a separate thread Eve!!

[Willy]

Another question is, why does a town the size of Ludington need a City Manager and a Mayor. It seems to be a waste of resources.

[AQUAMAN]

Good question RJE, and I've asked the sameo for years too. Especially the City Manager job, the Mayor, well it's just another given for any populated area not considered a village I suppose. And supposed to be a token paying job, one more for show than go related income. On the other hand, this City Mgr. position sure has a high payscale for such a small berg if you ask me. $90K to babysit as office manager? C'mon Man, that's outrageous for this town! And when good people are at the helm of each department already, why do they need an overseer on them? I think he's being used more as a watchdog over and in cooperation with the City Council as their front "yes man". And maybe to dig up grant monies for special projects, although, that's pretty inefficient usage of monetary resources for that duty.  They could hire someone p-t for that. I'll bet they could reduce that salary to half or less, and have plenty of qualified candidates applying for the job.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

Could the figure I found be including a secretary or something?

[Eve Alone]

Your figure does include the Assistant City Manager's salary as well.  If you think we have enough people at the top with the CM and the Mayor, then you probably think this office is a waste too.

I remember X put out a thread about a year ago regarding the ridiculousness of the City Manager system. He reasoned that we don't have unelected State Managers or Nation Managers.  Why do we elect Mayors and then give all of the executive power to someone else?  Seems crazy to me too. 

Let's make the mayor a full-time job, and give him some of the $200,000 plus we yearly spend in City management.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

Yes in my opinion that is crazy. My largest problem with government in general is the unelected folks with so much power from the epa on down.

[XLFD]

City Managers should not exist in a democratic republic.  You want to have the Mayor hire an assistant who has some knowledge in municipal management-- OK.  To then have the assistant run the whole city-- madness.  Having unelected people from all over the state run our town's affairs is not in our best interest.

[XLFD]

BTW, I'm going to post what some of the sources claim his salary was in 2008 tomorrow.  There is some variety.

[AQUAMAN]

Never heard of an Assistant City Mgr., who is it, and how much more for them? Thanks.