Beaumont announces May 3 election filing deadline; City Manager discusses pay and 2% employee increase

The Beaumont Beat podcast included a city announcement that the general election for Beaumont will be held May 3, and that prospective candidates for mayor or council must file with the city clerk’s office by Friday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m. The city posted candidate forms at beaumonttexas.gov/2025election.

On the same episode, City Manager Kenneth Williams discussed recent pay decisions for city staff and his office’s approach to compensation. Williams said the City Council approved a 2% across‑the‑board raise for employees. He described the council-directed process of comparing Beaumont’s compensation with peer cities and said that, in the city’s salary survey of comparable municipalities, his position ranked “four out of six.” “If you look at that straight compensation… I was 4 out of 6,” Williams said.

Williams characterized the city-manager role as a chief executive position responsible for managing multimillion‑dollar operations and thousands of employees; he said that private-sector pay typically would be higher but that he accepted the Beaumont post for the challenge rather than the pay. “I didn't come here for the money,” Williams said.

Also during the episode, the host encouraged residents to participate in a separate city engagement item: a public vote on a new city tagline. The city asked residents to visit beaumonttexas.gov/tagline to choose a tagline that will be used for promotional purposes.

The podcast did not include staff‑level budget figures or precise citywide payroll totals beyond the 2% raise; Williams provided an employee-count estimate of “about 1,400–1,500” and said the city serves “115,000” people. He did not provide the city manager’s exact salary on the recording.

No formal election rules or statutes were cited on the program; the host provided filing dates, the election date and a web link for candidate information.