Dallas鈥� city auditor, secretary and attorney all got pay raises, after the city council finalized the move late Wednesday 鈥� after years of the city鈥檚 top officials not receiving performance reviews.
Billierae Johnson, the city secretary, and City Auditor Mark Swann were both making about $214,000 prior to the council鈥檚 vote. Now Johnson will make $232,836.03 and Swann will receive $231,721.98.
City Attorney Tammy Palomino had a salary of close to $330,000 鈥� and will now make $338,000.
All three officials are eligible for a "one-time retention incentive payment" in mid-June if they remain on the city鈥檚 payroll, according to the council鈥檚 resolution.
Johnson would receive more than $12,000, Swann around $11,000 and Palomino could get just more than $3,000.
All measures passed without discussion.
City officials told members of the council in late February that Johnson and Swann hadn鈥檛 received a review since 2022. Palomino was due for an evaluation last year.
But it wasn鈥檛 until mid-April when they were evaluated.
City staff also told the council there is no standardized process setting goals for the city鈥檚 top officials, and that there's inconsistent evaluation criteria and limited stakeholder input.
What鈥檚 at stake is communication between the city council and their direct appointees 鈥� and possible salary increases for some of them. The city secretary handles records, meeting agendas and council legislation.
The auditor oversees oversight of the departments inside City Hall. And the city attorney dictates the legal path Dallas takes.
Lack of an evaluation process leaves questions about how elected officials can gauge performance in these important roles.
When the performance review issue came to light, city staff said it may not be until June that the three employees get their performance reviews.
Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins said at the time that the process should be expedited.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a shame that we waited this long, but I don鈥檛 think we should wait any longer,鈥� Atkins said.
Atkins wanted to evaluate two of the council鈥檚 direct appointees before he terms out of office in May, caying he felt like a "bad boss" for not evaluating them over two years.
鈥淚 hate that someone else who comes in, does not know who they are or the kind of work that they do [because] they have not been evaluated,鈥� he said.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter .
四虎影院 is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider today. Thank you.
