Pima County board approves two-year contract for county administrator with $330,000 annual salary

The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a two-year employment contract for the county administrator effective Jan. 8, 2025, through Jan. 7, 2027, with annual compensation set at $330,000 and the option to renew for up to two additional one-year periods.

The contract was discussed in an executive session held under Arizona open-meeting law provisions for personnel negotiations, then brought back into public session for a final vote. The board approved the contract by a recorded roll call of three yes, one no and one abstention. The board chair moved the contract; Supervisor Rex Scott seconded it.

Supervisor Stephen W. Christie protested the use of an executive session to negotiate a contract for the county’s top administrator and said a performance review had not been completed before the vote. “Public business should be done in the public,” Christie said during debate, citing concerns about transparency and listing operational issues he said should be considered, including a delayed compensation-and-classification study and problems with the county’s Workday payroll rollout.

County legal counsel clarified the reason for the closed session. “In executive session, the negotiation of the contract occurs, so there’s not a final contract until those conversations occur,” counsel said, explaining the board’s interpretation of Arizona Revised Statutes governing personnel negotiations and collective deliberations.

Supporters of the contract described the administrator’s record and argued the salary alignment reflected regional comparables. “When you consider her expertise and qualifications … we would have to create her in a laboratory to find somebody comparable,” Supervisor Scott said, noting weekly meetings and work he said demonstrated preparedness and leadership. Other supervisors cited recruitment and retention considerations and said the proposed salary reflected comparable public-sector positions.

Supervisor Hines abstained from the final vote, saying the appropriate regional comparison would support a higher salary but that he wanted to support retaining the administrator. Christie voted no. The chair and two other supervisors voted yes.

Board members asked for a public accounting of total compensation items tied to the contract — such as vacation, sick pay, retirement and the dollar value of benefits — noting those figures had not been presented during the meeting. The board chair said that those details would need to be calculated if the board adopted the contract and could be provided subsequently to ensure accuracy.

The board voted on the contract in public after the closed-session negotiations; the signed document and any associated exhibits will be made part of the public record per the board’s procedure for employment contracts.

Details retained from the meeting: the board set the base salary at $330,000 a year, the contract term runs Jan. 8, 2025–Jan. 7, 2027, and includes options to renew. Specific dollar values for employer-paid benefits and the calculated fiscal impact to the county’s budget were not provided at the meeting and were requested by supervisors.

The matter was the meeting’s most contested item, drawing objections about process and calls for more transparency alongside arguments that the administrator’s experience and performance justify the compensation.