Avula says withholding raises from senior City Hall employees would be ‘wrong decision’

Richmond Mayor Danny Avula is standing firm in his plan for across-the-board raises for City Hall employees, saying it would be a “wrong decision” for the City Council to try to cut proposed raises for senior officials.

“If we are treating our employees, even our senior employees, differently than the state or the surrounding counties, we're going to lose out on talent,” Avula said Wednesday night at an event in South Richmond.

The mayor found himself in a friendly but tough live debate during a community meeting hosted at Stony Point Fashion Park by City Councilor Sarah Abubaker (4th District), who has been vocally criticizing the mayor’s budget as top-heavy and overly generous to the upper ranks at City Hall.

Abubaker and Councilor Kenya Gibson (3rd District) have proposed not granting raises to non-union employees making more than $150,000, a move projected to save the city around $750,000 in the budget year that starts July 1.

The mayor said that, as far as he’s concerned, it’s a “non-starter” to suggest different approaches to raises based on whether an employee is or isn’t covered by one of the city’s collective bargaining units.

Avula’s remarks Wednesday offered his most extensive response yet to a discussion that’s mostly been unfolding in the City Council chambers between members of the legislative body and the unelected administrators and department heads who work under Avula.

The mayor first said he wanted to “dispel” the notion that the city is in a budget crisis, noting that the proposed budget includes $50 million more than the current budget largely due to growing revenue from real estate taxes. That was a slight shift in tone from the last few months, when the mayor and other city leaders have warned that funding in the upcoming budget year will be tighter than normal and require difficult decisions.

Avula said he “absolutely” understands the argument made by Abubaker and Councilor Kenya Gibson (3rd District) about equitable compensation and the fact the same percentage increase means someone making $250,000 a year will get a bigger raise than someone making $50,000 a year. But, he said, one of the biggest ways he can deliver on his campaign promise to improve City Hall is by being able to recruit and keep qualified people in top jobs.

“As the person who is now bearing the responsibility of what all of you want, which is more effective delivery of city government, I’m going to want to use every tool in the toolbox to get the most talented core of leaders,” Avula told the crowd of Abubaker’s constituents. 

Abubaker joked that the proposal she and Gibson have pushed caused a “riot” at City Hall, and said she understands Avula’s need to be able to offer competitive salaries.

“I wonder who we're competing against, though,” she said. “Because some of our salaries are actually more competitive than state agency salaries.”

Abubaker said she fully believes in paying employees what they're worth. But if the city is in belt-tightening mode, she said, “where we can cut, we should cut.”

The two didn’t come to a consensus on whether Abubaker is right or wrong that some senior City Hall officials are getting hefty, five-figure raises. 

Repeating a rebuttal raised by the city’s budget staff, Avula said he’s not aware of anyone getting the type of $20,000 or $30,000 raises Abubaker has described without it involving a promotion or reclassification of the job.

Abubaker said the analysis she’s done using salary data provided by Avula’s administration paints a clear picture of robust salary growth, even if there might be some “funky nuances to the data that I’m not privy to.”

“I just happen to be an insomniac who loves Excel spreadsheets,” she said.

The salary data the administration produced for the council does show the large year-over-year increases in budgeted salaries Abubaker has described, but it’s not detailed enough to determine exactly why the dollar amounts went up for each position.

Avula and Abubaker agreed that big-picture salary trends are worth looking into further as they both settle into their roles as newly elected city officials.

Addressing the audience of 4th District residents, Avula said time will tell whether his approach to City Hall governance is working or not.

“If, four years from now, city government is not better, then I shouldn’t be in it,” he said.

“Well I don’t think that’ll be the case,” Abubaker replied. “But I do appreciate that perspective.”

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org