City may be ‘stuck’ giving this retiring boss a $71,000 goodbye

South Florida Sun Sentinel (FL)

For years, Sunrise’s city manager didn’t ask for a job review that would’ve come with a raise.

Now, on the eve of City Manager Richard Salamon’s retirement, he wants his money, leaving taxpayers on the hook to give him an extra $71,000. City leaders criticized him, calling it a surprise during a national financial calamity.

Mayor Michael Ryan, an attorney who helped work on the contract, told officials he couldn’t find a legal way to stop the review, and said if the manager sues, the city could be on the hook for attorney’s fees, too.

“I have incredible difficulty with this,” he said. “On the way out the door after months of telling our staff to ... get prepared for budget restrictions and on the way out the door this is happening.”

“I didn’t contemplate something like this happening,” he said. “Unfortunately we’re stuck.”

Salamon has asked the city to give him a job evaluation that, whether it’s good or bad, would come with a 2.5% merit raise, weeks before his July 12 retirement. Salamon’s request would mean $71,224 in total benefits to him, but the total cost to the city is nearly $77,000 after taxes, officials said.

The merit raise would be retroactive to 2016 because he had never asked for one during his tenure as manager, instead waited to retire and receive the money at once, officials said. Until now, he had only received automatic cost-of-living raises. He has been city manager since 2015.

He currently earns a $221,411 salary.

Salamon did not respond to repeated requests for comment about his pending merit raise.

Leaders put the issue on hold Tuesday for an undetermined date, which is expected to not be addressed again until after he is already gone. They’ll use the time to figure out if he waived his legal right to a review to try to stop it from going forward.

“I am very upset about this,” Ryan told the South Florida Sun Sentinel after a city meeting. He said it comes at a bad time for the city “when we’re handing out thousands of meals for Sunrise residents” who are struggling financially.

Commissioner Mark Douglas said the manager had told leaders he didn’t need a job evaluation because he wasn’t seeking a pay raise. He said the review should have been done when the feedback was meaningful because he was still working there, and Salamon could have been told to adjust his performance.

“Mr. Salamon didn’t want that,” he said.

Now, it’s “merely an academic exercise,” Douglas said.

Others said the manager is contractually entitled to the money. Commissioner Lawrence Sofield told leaders to “hold our nose” and get it done and over with.

Salamon’s retirement package also allows him to cash out unused sick and vacation time. Currently that payout is $131,110; if the increased merit pay is approved, he’d get an additional $17,228, records show.

Regardless of the merit raise, he will also get $870,672 in his retirement plan, a $11,325 monthly pension for life and a $350-a-month lifetime health care subsidy. He will also get life insurance till age 66.

In paperwork submitted for the job evaluation, Salamon pitched his accomplishments over the last year, which included pushing for improvements on the east side of town and completing park and bicycle lanes.

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