2 El Paso City Execs Get $20K+ in Raises

We have hit difficult times in the economy because of COVID-19. There are a lot of people without jobs, and we've all had to tighten the belt a little bit to save money. That is, unless you are El Paso city manager Tommy Gonzalez or El Paso city attorney Karla Nieman. Both of these El Paso executives are scheduled to get raises coming up in September. The raises will be a combined $20,000.

What do they currently make? Tommy Gonzalez makes $361,000 a year and it getting a 5% raise. That's a raise of just over $18,000. Karla Nieman is making $256,000 and will get a 2% raise, which comes out to about $5,100.

Mayor Dee Margo was asked about these raises, and said these were raises based on job performance, and they were set when the El Paso City Council approved the contracts last year. He added:

We had a meeting with all members of council, came up with a consensus. Irrespective of the fact that one or two council members may say their voices weren’t heard, that is factually incorrect.

It is still up to Gonzalez and Nieman to accept the raises. In the middle of this, the city is looking at $69 million less in it's budget next year. Coming up on August 12th at 6pm, the city council will have a virtual town hall to figure out how to prioritize next year's budget. If you'd like to participate in the call, you can call (915) 213-4096, or you can CLICK HERE and use the conference ID number 524 559 903#.