With the city of Sedona gearing up to prepare its fiscal year 2024 budget, a look back at the 2023 budget shows that average budgeted compensation for a city employee is now $106,174.

Sedona city staff are compensated, on average, at rates equivalent to roughly four times Arizona’s minimum wage, three times Sedona’s median individual income and almost twice Sedona’s median household income. Sedona’s city manager is paid nearly twice as much as the governor of Arizona.

Staff Salaries

Sedona’s 2023 budget does not include detailed information on salary and pay rates for city staff. The only substantial information pertaining to employee compensation in the current city budget appears on page 369 of the 369-page document.

In 2023, the city budgeted for 178 full-time employees. Salaries and hourly costs were $12,048,960, and total compensation, including retirement, health care and other benefits, was $18,899,000. This works out to average annual compensation of $67,691 before benefits, or $106,174 including benefits, which are paid out of public funds, for hourly rates of $32.54 and $51.05, respectively.

Sedona’s 2008 budget included $9,900,463 for staff salaries, wages and benefits. The city had 118 employees at the time, for average compensation of $83,902.

In fiscal year 2022, Sedona had 17 employees with salaries before benefits of more than $100,000. In fiscal year 2023, 20 city employees are earning more than $100,000. These employees and their compensation rates [excluding benefits] are:

• City Manager Karen Osburn: $183,000. No change from 2022.
• Deputy City Manager Joanne Keene: $161,850. 7.9% increase from 2022.
• City Attorney Kurt Christianson: $155,235. 7% increase from 2022.
• Assistant City Manager/Director of Public Works J. Andy Dickey: $155,147. 7% increase from 2022.
• Director of Financial Services Cherie White: $153,422. 8.4% increase from 2022.
• Chief of Police Stephanie Foley: $135,200. Foley replaced Charles Husted, who retired last fall; the chief position’s salary is an overall 2% decrease from 2022.
• Magistrate Judge Paul Schlegel: $125,008. No change from 2022.
• Director of Community Development Steve Mertes: $125,000. No change from 2022.
• Criminal Prosecutor William Kunisch: $120,443. 5.3% increase from 2022.
• Director of Wastewater Roxanne Holland: $119,061. 9.6% increase from 2022.
• Information Technology Manager Chuck Hardy: $117,830. 6.8% increase from 2022.
• Assistant Director of Public Works Sandra Phillips: $114,660. 4% increase from 2022.
• Human Resources Manager Brenda Tammarine: $114,354. 7.6% increase from 2022.
• Transit Administrator Robert Weber: $110,850. 10.9% increase from 2022.
• Engineering Supervisor Kurtis Harris: $103,000. Position vacant in 2022.
• Police Lts. Karl Waak and Scott Martin: $103,000. 13.2% increase from 2022. Martin is a new hire, replacing the retiring Sgt. Michael Dominguez.
• Network Engineer, unspecified staff: $102,615. 5.6% increase from 2022.
• System Administrator, unspecified staff: $102,614. 5.6% increase from 2022.
• GIS Analyst, unspecified staff: $102,014. 5% increase from 2022.

These 20 salaries total $2,507,303, or 21% percent of the city’s personnel budget before benefits.

In addition, the city is currently hiring for several open positions with potential compensation greater than $100,000:

• Assistant director of financial services: Paid $100,000 in 2022, but the city’s October 2022 tender for the post stated that the salary could be up to $123,988.
• Parks and recreation manager: Advertised at $81,868 to $118,081 annually.
• Chief building official: Advertised at $78,020 to $112,464 annually.
• The city manager has not hired a new economic development director. Molly Spangler, who previously held the position, was paid $121,024 in 2022.
• The city has made an offer to a candidate to fill the position of deputy police chief, which paid $110,000 in 2022, but this hire has not yet been finalized pending relocation arrangements, according to Communications and Public Relations Manager Lauren Browne.

The city’s average pay rate for full-time hourly positions, excluding the above, is $28.19, which works out to annual compensation of $58,635 before benefits. Janitors earn the lowest wages at $16.40 an hour, followed by maintenance workers at $17 to $18 per hour and the court clerk at $19.01 per hour.

Arizona’s minimum wage is $13.85 per hour. Sedona’s median individual income is $33,284 and median household income is $58,901.

The Value of Intangibles

On March 1, the city posted an advertisement for a deputy city clerk position on its Facebook page, urging candidates to apply “if you are on the search for 100% paid health, dental and vision coverage, and 100’s of hours of paid time off.”

The city’s website explains that the other benefits the city of Sedona offers employees include subsidies of dependents’ health insurance; $50,000 in term life insurance; participation in the state’s retirement system; shortterm disability; and three-day weekends.

The value of the city’s benefits packages represents an average increase of 57% over employees’ salaried or hourly compensation.

For a city employee making $58,635 annually, the value of a 57% benefits package works out to an additional $33,422.

Staffing Levels

As of March 6, the city stated it had 141 regular fulltime employees, 15 regular part-time employees, five seasonal part-time employees, one temporary full-time employee, and five temporary part-time employees for a total of 167 personnel. The employment opportunities section of the city website listed 11 open full-time positions, two part-time positions and three temporary positions as of March 8.

According to city finance director Cherie White, the U.S. economy is expected to head into a recession over the next year. During the last economic recession, the city reduced its staff from 120 employees in 2009 to 100 in 2010 to cut costs.

The city of Sedona exceeded 150 employees for the first time in 2020.