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Dionne Mack began her position as City Manager on September 3, 2024.
Within a short time, she approved raises for 37 deputy city managers and department heads totaling $925,366, with an average salary increase of 15.2% per employee. (see attachment below)
According to the organizational chart, there are 38 employees who report to Mack and all but one worked for the City before she was promoted to City Manager.
We compared their salaries in October 2024, shortly after Mack was hired, to their salaries in March 2025 and what we found is astonishing.
Karina Brasgalla began as Interim Director of Economic and International Development in January 2024 and was only promoted to Director in December, yet she saw her salary increase from $126,597 to $180,225, or 42.4%, within three months of her promotion.
Mack increased the number of deputy city managers from three to seven, promoting Richard Bristol (now paid $237,938, an increase of 37.94%), Yvette Hernandez ($237,938, up 34.60%), Katherine Cote ($246,265, up 30.93%), and Araceli Guerra ($237,938, up 24.57%).
Interim Aviation Director Juan Nevarez was promoted to Director, with a 30.67% increase in salary.
Mary Wiggins, Pablo Caballero, Phillip Etiwe, Norma Martinez, Arthur Alvarado, and Anabelle Casas all received salary increases of between 23% and 26% even though none were promoted to a higher position.
Police Chief Peter Pacillas and Fire Chief Jonathan Killings were both given 20% raises and now earn $255,111 and $239,340, respectively.
Ellen Smyth, Veerinder Taneja, Laura Acosta, Laura Prine, Roman Sanchez, Claudia Garcia, and Randy Garcia received salary increases of between 10% and 18% without changing job titles.
Another 10 department heads received raises of between 5% and 9%, with only one changing job titles.
By contrast, City Manager Mack ($358,805), City Attorney Nieman ($326,617), and Chief Internal Auditor Calderon ($187,313) all serve at the pleasure of City Council, which approved raises of 1.3% each.
We asked City Manager Mack why she increased the salaries of the upper administration so dramatically and why she appointed so many new deputy city managers. She replied that the City is “currently utilizing a multi-city market analysis to set salaries,” adding that the City hired an Assistant Director for Human Resources with a specialty in compensation.
It is unclear whether the City simply matched salaries in Dallas, Austin and other Texas cities or used some mathematical formula to increase compensation. Mack indicated that she will provide us with data from HR in a few days.
It seems strange to us that she would give $925,366 in raises to 37 employees so shortly after she was hired as City Manager and at a time when the City is facing a major budget challenge that will almost certainly result in a tax increase.
Mack reminded us that the City committed to raising the minimum wage for its employees but we do not know what that has to do with the average salary increase of 15.2% among 37 high-level administrators.
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