Tommy Gonzalez Isn’t the Only HIGHLY Paid Texas (Ex) City Manager

Critics of the former city manager complained that his salary was excessive, but Tommy Gonzalez Isn’t the Only HIGHLY Paid Texas Public official. 

At the end of February, ex-El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez was voted out of his position by the city council and the mayor.

Critics of the former city manager complained that his salary was excessive and grossly out of line with the average El Pasoans experience.

But, Tommy Gonzalez isn’t alone in being an EXTREMELY well compensated Texas official, at the expense of the taxpayers.

A non-profit organization called OpenTheBooks.com has revealed that over 78,000 state and local government workers in Texas earned more than $100,000 each in 2018.

The group’s interactive map also showed that 18,600 of these highly paid workers earned more than Governor Greg Abbott’s salary of $153,750.

The organization found that the highest-paid public employees in Texas were city managers, school superintendents, and state staff.

Notice how “city manager” is at the top.

The former city manager of San Antonio, Sheryl Sculley, topped the list in 2018 with a salary of $574,594, followed by Horacio De Leon, who earned $880,486 in 2019. That wasn’t his base salary, but a result of severance pay.

Which, in that case, would put former El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez at around $1 Million!

Many other officials have reaped their rewards throughout the years.

Six superintendents in Texas earned over $400,000 each in 2019, and nearly 9,000 public school administrators, athletic directors, teachers, and other employees earned over $100,000 in 2019, costing taxpayers $1.1 billion.

OpenTheBooks.com also discovered that 19,519 federal bureaucrats based in Texas earned six figures or more in 2018, costing taxpayers $2.5 billion.

An unusual example, two employees of Garland Power & Light made over $412,000 last year, and the Dallas Independent School District employed the second-highest number of six-figure educators in Texas, costing taxpayers $44.1 million.

OpenTheBooks.com contacted well-compensated employees and their respective cities for comment, and some cities responded by explaining that several salaries included retirement payouts or that executive compensation was necessary to attract and retain talented employees.

Overall, the findings are a SHOCKING insight into public officials’ compensation and suggest that Tommy Gonzalez isn’t alone in his six-figure paycheck.

Are there tons of very highly paid public employees in Texas, including city managers, school superintendents, and state staff, and the Texas taxpayers are footing the bill for their salaries?

Let me know what you think at nico@klaq.com