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Annapolis finance panel postpones recommendation on executive pay restructuring after lengthy discussion
Summary
Committee members discussed ordinance R-5324 (executive pay/classification), raised concerns about banding by budget size, recruitment and turnover risk, and voted to postpone further action until the next committee meeting to develop amendments.
The Finance Committee on Jan. 22, 2025 postponed consideration of R-5324, a proposal to restructure executive pay bands and move department heads onto an “E” salary scale. Committee members debated how to group department heads, what metrics should determine pay bands, and whether the change could increase recruitment costs if turnover led to higher starting salaries.
Acting City Manager Buckland and Human Resources staff (referred to as Miss Hopkins in the meeting) briefed the committee on options for grouping departments by budget size and on the consultant’s market data included in the classification and compensation study. Buckland said breaking department heads into tiers based on budget produced a natural breakpoint around $15 million (placing police, fire, public works and transportation in a top tier), with a secondary break around $5 million. Hopkins and other staff described additional factors the compensation study considers—organizational impact, market comparisons, and internal job comparisons—warning that budget size alone is not an equitable measure of a department’s operational importance.
Several committee members voiced specific concerns about lumping smaller but operationally critical departments—most notably the Office of Emergency Management (OEM)—into the same executive band as departments with much larger operating budgets. Members also discussed turnover risk: staff and committee members said converting to a new scale would not, by itself, bump current incumbents but could create higher hiring costs if future hires were made at top-of-scale market rates; committee members asked staff for an estimate of potential fiscal impact. Finance Director Jody Dickinson reported the city’s actuary had completed the pension evaluation used in the budget process but did not provide a full fiscal-impact estimate for the pay-scale change during the meeting.
After discussion, Alderman Audra Roman O'Neil moved—and another member seconded—to postpone consideration of R-5324 until the committee’s next meeting so members could develop amendments; the committee voted in favor by voice vote. The chair asked aldermen to submit amendment ideas and indicated staff would work to clarify timing and fiscal impact for the committee’s next session.
