A week after transferring two top aides to work for a private organization at taxpayer expense, City Manager Mike Letcher announced Wednesday he hired a new assistant manager for $143,000 and promoted three others to fill the void in his office.
The promotions of Assistant City Manager Richard Miranda, Interim Budget Director Marie Nemerguth and Agenda Coordinator Christina Parisi came with raises totaling $34,000 — the cost of the July Fourth fireworks celebration city officials said last week they couldn't afford until private donors stepped up.
Most city employees will get no raises this year because of the tight budget. All but the most essential workers will make less because they will be required to take five mandatory unpaid furlough days.
Letcher selected a new assistant city manager without a formal hiring process, tapping Sean McBride, whom Letcher said he has known since McBride was in graduate school and Letcher worked as a city manager in Vermont.
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Like Letcher, McBride comes to Tucson from a much smaller community. Letcher was hired away from Sedona. McBride is an assistant city manager in Portage, Mich., population 45,000. He starts work in Tucson on Oct. 5.
The moves come less than a week after two of former City Manager Mike Hein's top deputies were dispatched to jobs with the Downtown Tucson Partnership, with city taxpayers continuing to pay their combined salaries of nearly $200,000 a year.
Last week, Letcher announced that Hein's assistants Jaret Barr and Fran LaSala would be reassigned despite the fact that LaSala's duties have not been determined.
Letcher himself will get a raise for going from interim to permanent city manager, which will be announced today.
The new hire and promotions are needed, Letcher said, because Tucson needs people to run the city even with the tight budget situation.
Letcher noted his office will still come in under budget because of previous decisions to cut Rio Nuevo Director Greg Shelko and a position in the city's lobbying department, and not to replace Nemerguth — who had been an assistant to the city manager — now that she has the new position of budget and internal audit program director.
Letcher said the new position does not have department-head status. The city eliminated the budget-director position last year when it merged the budget and the finance departments to save money.
He also said the three people promoted will make less money than the previous employees in those positions.
In addition to hiring a new assistant city manager, Letcher:
• Promoted Miranda to deputy city manager, raising his salary $8,000 to $167,000. Letcher previously made $178,000 in that position.
• Named Nemerguth the budget and internal audit director, raising her salary $23,000 to $120,000. Former Budget Director Jim Cameron made $121,000 in that position, Letcher said.
• Promoted Agenda Coordinator Parisi to an assistant to the city manager, raising her salary $3,000 to $71,000. Letcher said Nemerguth made $97,000 in that position.
Letcher said he has known McBride since the mid-1990s, when McBride was in graduate school and Letcher was a city manager in Vermont.
Letcher said McBride will be a "very valuable asset for the city. … I think he's ready."
The City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to raise taxes 2 percent on home phone bills, cell-phone bills, electric bills and gas bills. Tucson Water bills will go up 10 percent, city garbage-pickup fees will increase 3.5 percent, and bus fares will be increased as well. The new budget goes into effect July 1.
Mayor Bob Walkup and Councilwoman Regina Romero said they were fine with Letcher's decision.
Walkup said the loss of Barr puts Letcher's office below the staffing level it needs. When told it was Letcher's decision to transfer Barr, Walkup said he was fine with the whole situation.
Walkup said sending Barr to work for the Downtown Tucson Partnership "was a wise move, but it leaves him with a shortage on the 10th floor."
Walkup said the partnership will gradually assume Barr's and LaSala's salaries — the first time anyone has suggested that was part of the deal, and even though the partnership is chronically short of funding.
Romero said she's OK with Letcher's moves because Letcher needs the ability to build a team, and his team is still smaller than Hein's.
She said the raises and new hire, on the heels of having to raise taxes to balance the budget, are appropriate because it is important "for residents to know the city of Tucson is being run as responsibly as possible."
Patti Wheatley, the owner of Curves Gym on North Campbell Avenue, which will be hit with a new 2 percent tax, disagrees. She said the move makes her question whether city government is looking out for the interests of its citizens or if "it is a more self-serving government we have."
Jenelle Ehrlich, owner of the Kist by Mist tanning salon on East Speedway, said the city seems intent on hurting businesses.
"The city is steadily drowning what business owners are left," Ehrlich said. "It seems the city is finding ways to benefit themselves."
