Baker wins high praise and new 5-year contract
County administrator’s term now to run through Aug. 25, 2022.
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County commissioners extended the contract Tuesday of Verdenia Baker, the county’s first African-American and first female county administrator.
The extension is for five years, taking her contract through Aug. 25, 2022. Her original, two-year contract had been set to expire on Aug. 26 of this year.
There is no annual review of Baker’s performance. She works at the pleasure of county commissioners. They can terminate her contract before the five-year period ends, but she would be eligible for severance pay.
Baker’s annual salary of $273,183 is lower than that of the county administrator in Broward County, which has a population roughly 1⅓ times that of Palm Beach County, but it is higher than the salaries of her fellow administrators in Orange, Pinellas and Hillsborough Get more news about Palm Beach County online at counties, according to a county salary survey. Those three counties have smaller populations than Palm Beach County, and Baker has been with her county longer than those administrators have been employed by their respective counties.
Baker’s pay is higher than the $257,000 she earned immediately after she was promoted. Her salary has risen at the pace of county employees, a practice she said she plans to continue.
Each of the six commissioners who attended Tuesday’s meeting praised Baker, and the one commissioner who was absent, Dave