Lakewood official cashes in

City Manager Thaddeus McCormack's salary rose to $272K, but what will be his total wages?

LAKEWOOD, CALIF. — Lacking detailed written reports, City Council assured residents that the $42,000 in pay raises for city manager were well earned and prudently spent.

“Our calling card is transparency,” Councilman Todd Rogers said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Council unanimously approved an amendment to City Manager Thaddeus McCormack’s contract that raised his salary to $22,698.90 per month, amounting to $272,268 annually. When first hired in 2017, McCormack’s salary was $230,072, making the 4-year salary increases amount to $42,196 or 18.34 percent.

McCormack had been receiving cost-of-living salary increases since being hired, City Attorney Steve Skolnik said.

Since hiring McCormack in August 2017, the City of Lakewood has yet to provide an in-depth written report fully detailing just how much he is compensated. In fact, as the Lakewood Populist reported earlier, Council was not even presented a written staff report when it first approved McCormack’s contract at its Aug. 8, 2017, meeting.

Even now, salary numbers available on the city’s website do not exactly correlate with numbers from the state Controller’s website detailing public officials’ salaries.

For example, Council minutes from its Aug. 8, 2017, meeting showed McCormack would be earning $230,072 as an annual salary for fiscal year 2017-2018. That same salary number is also listed on McCormack’s contract provided on the city’s website.

However, the “regular pay” listed on the state’s Controller’s website showed McCormack earning $234,319 in “regular pay”, plus an additional $12,222 in “lump-sump pay” and “other page”.

“Lump-sum pay” was a one-time cash-out for things like excess vacation and sick leave, as well as legal settlements, according to the Controller’s website. The website noted that the cash-out could be for others things as well.

“Other pay” included things like car allowances, meeting stipends, incentive pay, bonus pay, etc., according to the Controller’s website.

A copy of McCormack’s old contract showed the city manager being compensated via the following items:

·       A monthly $500 car allowance, beginning Aug. 23, 2020;

·       OR, instead of the car allowance, a City-provided hybrid vehicle or alternative fuel vehicle;

·       Benefits provided to senior management of the City;

·       A $230,072 annual salary;

·       An annual physical;

·       Dues and subscriptions for McCormack’s regional, national, state and local city manager associations;

·       Travel and subsistence expenses for City and profession related matters.

What is the City Manager making?

The Lakewood Populist is currently unable to detail McCormack’s salary. However, going by the state’s Controller’s website, the Lakewood Populist can provide the following breakdown.

Click here for the Controller’s reports on the city manager’s annual salary: 2018, 2019, 2020.

The “total wages” includes McCormack’s salary and “lump-sum pay” and “other pay”, per the Controller’s website. Much of McCormack’s 2020 increase came from a “lump-sum pay” of $15,360.

Numbers from the Controller’s website showed that out of 555 city managers in California, McCormack’s 2020 total wages was ranked the 120th highest, putting him in the top 22 percentile.

Lacking a detailed written report, it is unclear what McCormack’s total wages will be for 2021 and 2022.

Council jumps to City Manager’s defense

The Lakewood Populist posted information about McCormack’s proposed salary increase to a popular Facebook crime and community pages, where it received over a hundred reactions and comments. Councilman Rogers even posted a comment under a Facebook account not usually used by him for public business.

He and the rest of Council made it clear they backed the city manager’s salary increase despite the public outcry on Facebook, including many negative comments and angry emogees.

Lakewood’s fiscal crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and the social unrest that included looting, along with McCormack’s actions as city manager justified his salary increases, per Councilman Rogers. He noted how actions by McCormack led to the apprehension of people with Molotov cocktails that could had caused physical and fiscal damage, as well as someone’s life.

Councilman Rogers declined to give in-depth details of the Molotov cocktails incident.

All other Council members voiced similar praises.

Councilman Ariel Pe said other cities referred to McCormack when talking about good city managers. Councilwoman Vicki Stuckey said McCormack was known and respected statewide.

Vice Mayor Steve Croft noted how city services never stopped in the midst of all the crises listed by Councilman Rogers, saying that was a key issue for him in determining whether or not to approve the salary increase.  

Mayor Jeff Wood said that McCormack fought against the state’s housing mandates.

Just how good is the City Manager?

City Attorney Skolnick said in his brief report to Council that the Council does a private performance evaluation on the city manager without him being present.

Councilman Rogers said laws and policies prevented Council from making public the  performance evaluations.

“I and my colleagues are evaluating his [McCormack’s] performance on a daily basis,” Councilman Rogers said, noting that McCormack had so far declined “step” salary increases, only getting cost-of-living increases.

“I felt that this 5 percent increase was deserved and reasonable,” Councilman Rogers said.

Get involved

Council members obviously read the social media posts of residents. When the residents show significant alarm or interest over an issue, Council will respond via online forums and at Council meetings themselves.

Email Council members at citycouncil@lakewoodcity.org and ask them to provide a detailed written report of McCormack’s annual salaries since August 2017.

NOTE: Article originally published October 14, 2021.