Arizona Capitol Times reports a state senator wants to cap salaries for municipal employees throughout the state, a move city officials say could hobble efforts to attract and retain good government workers.
The move places Sen.Paul Booyer at odds with his own city government.
Boyer, R-Glendale, announced on Twitter Tuesday he plans to introduce a bill next session prohibiting nearly all city employees from earning more than the governor–$95,000.
Phoenix City Manager Ed Zuercher makes $315,000 annually — more than three times the cap Boyer wants to install. Other large Valley cities pay their top executives more than $200,000 annually, while even the 5,500-population Bisbee was advertising for a city manager at a starting salary between $100,000 and $120,000 this spring.
Arizona Capitol Times reports Boyer’s pitch to cap municipal pay stems from a long-running tiff with leaders in Glendale over how the city is implementing a 2017 law Boyer wrote that states that cities must presumptively consider certain cancers affecting firefighters related to carcinogens they were exposed to while fighting fires. Because of the law, cities would be expected to pay for treatment of those cancers.
Glendale initially refused to pay for cancer treatment for fire Capt. Kevin Thompson, whose multiple myeloma is one of the cancers listed in the 2017 law as being related to carcinogens firefighters encounter on the job. It later reversed that decision, under public pressure from Boyer.
