Austin City Council members have proposed a variety of ways to scale back employee compensation in recent days. Among them: Council Member Don Zimmerman’s pitch for tiered wage increases rather than an across-the-board 3 percent bump, Mayor Steve Adler’s exploration of phasing in pay raises rather than a boost that fully takes effect at the start of the budget year, and Council Member Ellen Troxclair’s desire to find a way to structure pay increases that would save $6 million.
City department heads penned a letter Monday saying they are concerned the council just doesn’t get it.
“We understand and know, all too well, how difficult it is to balance a budget of this size and complexity, as we are tasked and entrusted with not only the DRAFT creation, but the implementation,” the letter said. “However, recent budget policy discussions reflect that there may be a serious lack of understanding regarding the complexity of our work and perhaps, a diminished level of respect for the work we do.”
The letter later continued, “The effects of some of the employee budget concepts are simply quite deflating. They will absolutely have a negative impact on not just the employees, but the City as a whole.” Some of the proposed compensation changes could lead to a higher turnover rate among key city officials, hurt employee morale and damage the city’s reputation as an employer, the letter said.
City Parks Director Sara Hensley said Monday evening that she wrote the letter with input from other department heads. Those top city officials have never written a similar letter to council regarding budget proposals, Hensley said.
Austin Parks director Sara Hensley, shown here at a press conference in 2014.
The department heads who indicated they supported the letter include: City Clerk Jannette Goodall, Chief Sustainability Officer Lucia Athens, Real Estate Officer Lauraine Rizer, Public Works Director Howard Lazarus, Chief Animal Services Officer Tawny Hammond, Interim City Attorney Anne Morgan, Police Chief Art Acevedo, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Ernesto Rodriguez, Fleet Director Gerry Calk, Libraries Director Brenda Branch, Austin Resource Recovery Director Bob Gedert, Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr, Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros, Planning and Zoning Director Greg Guernsey, Court Administrator Pete Valdez, Acting Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Scott Swearengin, Economic Development Director Kevin Johns, Transportation Director Robert Spillar, Telecommunications & Regulatory Affairs Officer Rondella Hawkins, Small & Minority Business Resource Director Veronica Lara, Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Director Betsy Spencer, Austin Convention Center Director Mark Tester and Capital Planning Officer Mike Trimble.
The letter was addressed to City Manager Marc Ott, who oversees department heads. Ott sent the letter to the council with a memo that he wrote, which in part pointed out that the new council has strained staff.
“Now that we are in this transition and have been operating fully under the new 10-1 governance structure, including the establishment of Council’s Committee structure, in some ways the shift in staff capacity to support all of this at times has almost been overwhelming,” Ott wrote. “Nevertheless, despite these challenges the staff has stepped up and responded as they always have with excellence.”
(The new council committee system has so far cost $223,089, including $42,549 in staff and overtime, per a city staff response to a question submitted by Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria.)
Ott later continued, “The very employees that have been striving to support the new 10-1 system, especially the Department Heads and their executive teams, have said that they are feeling undervalued and unappreciated from several of the budget concept menu items. … I’m hearing that many employees are understandably feeling ‘under attack.’ … I will also say that in my tenure here, this level of response by employees is unprecedented.”
Also attached to Ott’s memo was a string of emails about a proposal from Council Member Sheri Gallo to eliminate all “advertising/marketing positions” in city departments. That would cut about 97 positions and save the city $9.7 million.
Acting Assistant City Manager Mark Washington responded to an email in which code department spokeswoman Candice Cooper spoke of “overwhelming concern and fear from my staff” by saying he would work with other city officials on letting “PIOs” (public information officers) know they are valued and that no decisions have yet been made.
