PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona state senator has announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit city officials from earning more than the governor, officials said.
Republican Sen. Paul Boyer said that would mean no employee could make more than Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s current $95,000 salary.
Ducey’s salary is on the low end for governors, only the Colorado and Maine governors make less, according to the Council on State Governments. Even high-level municipal employees make more than the Arizona governor.
Phoenix city manager Ed Zuercher makes $315,000 annually, more than three times the amount the bill would limit, state officials said. Other cities outside of Phoenix provide similarly high salaries for their top administrators, including city attorneys, public works directors, municipal judges and long-tenured police and fire officials.
“Since the jobs that the managers do affect things like economic development and other important issues, it would have an effect,” said Tom Belshe, deputy director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. “It would be detrimental, especially to the ability to retain quality employees in Maricopa and Pima and some of the larger communities in the state.”
Boyer has been an advocate for firefighters struggling to win workers compensation after cancer diagnoses, saying the bill would exempt firefighters and police officers, Boyer said.
The proposal stems from a long-running dispute with Glendale leaders over how the city is implementing a 2017 law Boyer wrote that states that cities are expected to pay for treatment of cancers caused by exposure to carcinogens while fighting fires, officials said.
The senator and Glendale city manager Kevin Phelps met last week about the issue, Boyer said.
“All he could talk about was how expensive it was to cover our true heroes who get cancer protecting us,” Boyer said after the meeting. “So I’ve found a way to realize some savings.”
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