El Paso City Workers' Salaries: A Deep Dive

It's April 29th. I'm Cory with the story, and this is El Paso News today, your AI-powered

local news. El Paso's city workers are feeling the pinch from high living costs just like

everyone else, but new salary data shows how the municipal payroll stacks up. The city

has about 6492 employees total, split into general services, uniform like police and fire,

professional, managerial roles. Average pay for general services folks sits at around $43,000

a year, while professional and managerial types average $66,000. To keep things fair,

the city sticks mostly to across the board raises for everyone, ditching individual merit bumps

since 2011. Officials say this evens the playing field across thousands of different jobs,

especially with tight budgets eaten up by public safety union deals. That means impact hits

hard, about 2,500 employees earn under the city's average household income of $49,000. $170,

lowest paid start at $15.75 an hour, or about $33,000 yearly in spots like parks,

animal services, and streets. Meanwhile, top earners like the city manager pull in over $373,000

annually. On the leadership side, mayor and city council members make $45,300 a year,

boosted by voters back in 2018. The city bumped a minimum wage to match rising costs and

his iron Texas averages around $55,000 statewide. Looking forward, their reviewing pay practices

may be bringing back merit raises if budgets allow, all while balancing voter approvals for any big.

Changes. Stay tuned as El Paso keeps pushing for competitive wages.