With $34,000 raise, city manager pay reaches $230,000 in Surprise
Surprise’s top employee just got a big pay raise.
Surprise City Manager Bob Wingenroth’s salary will increase by about $34,000, from $196,201 to $230,000, under a contract amendment the Surprise City Council approved last week. The change takes effect the next pay period.
Wingenroth will also get a $500 monthly vehicle allowance.
Mayor Sharon Wolcott said the city has been pleased with Wingenroth’s work and hopes he will stick around. But she also said the city needed to increase the pay because it was lagging behind other Valley cities.
“In the future, some day, he will leave,” Wolcott said. “When that day comes, if we haven’t kept up with our competitive salary profile in the city of Surprise, it makes it harder to recruit top talent.”
Before the raise, Wingenroth was the only city manager in the 10 largest Phoenix area cities — Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Tempe, Peoria, Surprise and Avondale — making less than $200,000. Most of the cities also provide other benefits such as car or cell phone allowances.
Wingenroth had received annual cost-ofliving and merit increases similar to other city employees, but this is the first salary adjustment since he was named city manager in 2014.
He did not return a request for comment regarding his new salary.
Wingenroth’s base pay is now more than that of city managers in the larger Valley cities of Glendale and Tempe.
Kevin Phelps, Glendale’s city manager, makes $229,500 and has been with the city since 2015. Andrew Ching, Tempe’s city manager, makes $208,046 and has been in his spot since 2013.
His base pay also outranks that of Avondale and Peoria, the two West Valley cities closest in size to Surprise.
Avondale City Manager Charles Montoya, who was appointed in July, makes $210,000. Peoria City Manager Jeff Tyne, who was appointed last year, makes $222,600.
When evaluating Wingenroth’s performance, Surprise staff and elected officials collected information about city manager salaries and benefits across the Valley, said Surprise Councilman Skip Hall, who served as chairman of the performance evaluation committee.
What they found was that salaries and benefits varied greatly. Some city managers have the option of setting aside money into retirement accounts, for example, while others get a big payout when they leave the city.
Adding up all of those extra benefits, Wingenroth’s previous compensation package fell far below city managers in other cities, according to data provided by Surprise.
Wolcott said this was the city’s way of thanking Wingenroth for all he has done. She said he has improved the culture in the city by building cooperation and respect among employees — something that she said didn’t really exist before.
The city had high turnover of city managers before him, she said, and that made it hard for people to understand their roles and work together.
“It’s just a much more pleasant place to work,” she said.