The mayor of Salt Lake City should be paid more.

If you want experience in the mayoral role, you have to pay for it.

In my assessment, mayoral salaries have always been too low, filtering out top mid-career leaders who have the leadership expertise but cannot stomach the low pay for their positions. Instead, these talented individuals who can bring business acumen to the public sector remain within the safe confines of the private sector.

If you want experience in the mayoral role, you have to pay for it.

Salt Lake City has a history of electing new mayors who spend most of their first term learning how to run a complex capital city with over 3,500 employees and a budget of nearly $2 billion. With such a large district, budget, and staff, Salt Lake City stands out among the rest of the state and requires management expertise. In my opinion, these new mayors often lack the skills, talent, and wisdom to lead effectively from the get-go. Many past mayors were elected to a second term, where their on-the-job training began to pay off. In almost every case, their performance in their second term was significantly better than their first four years.

Wouldn’t Salt Lake City be wise to elect a mayor with leadership experience to manage a team from the get-go? An inexperienced first-term mayor could miss out on millions of dollars through poor decisions or no decisions at all. Infrastructure deficiencies, safety concerns, and homelessness issues addressed by inexperienced leadership are already driving businesses and young families out of the capital. Without a vibrant business community, we stand to lose millions of dollars in tax revenue. Salt Lake City needs experienced leaders, and proper compensation will help make that happen, as outlined in a 2008 study that found that “increased salaries not only attract more candidates, but also more educated candidates.”

A private company with 3,500 employees and a $2 billion budget would certainly pay its CEO a salary of over $168,000. Even the 26% increase the Mayor requested is still very low. We need to take seriously the old adage “you get what you pay for.” Without proper compensation, Salt Lake City will not be able to attract the right talent for our city.

As many of you know, I am not a huge supporter of Mayor Erin Mendenhall. However, I am a strong supporter of Salt Lake City. This city deserves the best leadership, and having the right compensation plan would go a long way to helping achieve that. This Mayor is in her second term, and I don’t believe for a second that she hasn’t learned a lot and gained valuable experience that will help her in her second term. The negative thinkers (and there are many) will say that no one deserves a 26% raise. But again, you get what you pay for, and our city deserves and needs experienced leadership from day one. I believe that the Mayor’s Office and all future Mayors should approve a raise.

David Ibarra A leadership consultant, entrepreneur, speaker and author with a background in the hospitality, automotive and workforce development industries, she lives and works in downtown Salt Lake City and ran for Mayor in 2019.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. To do this, we need your insight. Find out how you can share your opinion. herePlease contact us by email email address.