Granite Shoals city manager gets $37,000 raise
The Granite Shoals City Council approved a $37,000 raise on Aug. 4 for City Manager Jeff Looney. The bump brings Looney’s salary in line with other Highland Lakes and Central Texas area city managers. Courtesy photo
City Manager Jeff Looney’s new salary of $162,000 puts him in line with what other city managers in the Highland Lakes are earning, according to city officials. It’s a $37,000 raise.
The Granite Shoals City Council approved the new contract during a special meeting Aug. 4. The contract also gives him four weeks of vacation.
Looney, who is completing his second year at the helm, was hired Sept. 10, 2018. He has three decades of city management experience.
Mayor Carl Brugger and Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Davant cited several reasons for why they voted for the raise.
At the top of the list was a survey conducted by Public Servants Professional Consultants, which showed what each city manager in the Highland Lakes was earning.
“He’s done an excellent job,” Brugger said about Looney. “He has 34 years of experience, and he has a good education. We did a survey with a third party. They came back with midpoints, minimums, and maximums. When we looked, Jeff Looney was at rock bottom. I know people are critiquing us. It’s easy to pick cities in West Texas (to compare to Granite Shoals). Those cities aren’t adjacent to Austin and to us, and they don’t have the cost of living we have here.”
Davant agreed that the salary survey opened his eyes to the discrepancy between Looney’s salary and those of other area city managers.
“We have brought him up to be in the range of what you have in this area,” Davant said. “Absent of the salary survey, had we not had that as a basis, I don’t know that I would have voted for the salary increase.”
Brugger said the council will also review other city salaries in light of the survey.
Under Looney’s leadership, the city is looking at saving more than $580,000 through a $9.3 million bond consolidation plan.
Davant credited Looney for bringing in outside financial counselors to look at the city’s finances, which led to the bond refinancing.
“We may not have had that without Jeff,” Davant added.
Along with saving the city several hundreds of thousands of dollars through refinancing the bond debt, Brugger and Davant said Looney is always looking for ways to improve Granite Shoals.
The city manager advocated for repairing part of Prairie Creek Road after ripples showed in the pavement following previous work. He even found funding for the fix. Then, on June 8, while most of Granite Shoals slept, Looney was at the Quarry Park multipurpose sports complex at 2 a.m. monitoring crews pouring the concrete for the facility.
“I think it demonstrates his commitment to the city of Granite Shoals,” Davant said. “We’ve had issues at Prairie Creek since that road was done. He’s been out there. He’s been a force for resolution.”
In other business, the council voted to accept a $67,719.30 quote from Lowry Electrical of New Braunfels to buy and install electrical lighting at the multipurpose sports complex.
“The lighting is going to be controlled by our cellphones,” said Looney, adding that each fixture will have guards to eliminate vandalism.
The lighting will be installed first and then the flooring, Assistant City Manager Peggy Smith said.
During the July 28 regular City Council meeting, councilors approved a $190,000 contract with AllSport America for flooring and artificial turf for the complex.
And also, City Secretary Elaine Simpson told the council during the special Aug. 4 meeting that the Capital Area Council of Governments awarded Granite Shoals a $16,500 grant. The money will be used for the citywide cleanup in either October or April.
5 thoughts on “Granite Shoals city manager gets $37,000 raise”
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Bottom line: I smell corruption at multiple levels! Did you know that senior citizens and just Granite Shoals citizens were over charged for their water bills but never refunded?
This is what you can to help get our city back! Please contact texas department of public safety- texas rangers specialized program public corruption unit created under house bill 2086. Texas rangers are committed to fighting corruption for those who hold a position of public trust. Please call 512-424-2160 or email the allegation to rangers@dps.texas.gov
So the Granite Shoals City Council thinks the city manager should get paid on a level with the surrounding areas managers. Does this mean that the rest of the city employees should as well? I would think so. However I don’t believe the Granite Shoals city manager should get paid the same as the others. He accepted this position with the pay being $125K. Suddenly he needs an almost 30% pay raise? Lets be fair about this then. All city employees should get a raise along the lines of the other towns or a 30% raise. City hall workers, water department workers and road maintenance workers should be treated the same. Just raise everyone’s taxes to cover all of this spending. I am totally against any of this but the goofy people on the council that thought this was a good idea have opened this up. I wonder if they all show up for meetings in the same clown car. In this time we live with lots of people just happy to have a job they thought this made sense. Wow!!!
Sounds excessive. Money Money Money. Guess that all the other officials will soon benefit. Raise the taxes? What a shame.
Stay Classy Granite Shoals…
In the midst of a pandemic, when so many people are struggling, it’s nice to hear that a 37K pay raise was approved?
Who is actually paying for this raise? I would image a good number of people who don’t know how they’re going to make it. Also the Seniors who had their water bill discount done away with. Also the people in Hoover’s Valley who pay the same water rate as City Residents without the benefit of trash services included. Nice to have the backs of regular people to mooch off of.
It’s not what I will do for you! It’s how much you can do for me!!! Roads are terrible, Water, Trash Prices are unreal, not including the add on’s. The police only enforce what the property owners west of Phillips Ranch RD and along the lake want as for ordinances. The folks east for Phillips Ranch we just have endure, with the loud music and building with out a permit and other violates of passed ordinances. What a joke GS has become.