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Hildebrandt, Konrad
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TAB 6
Daily Herald (Provo, UT)
October 23, 2011
Cedar Hills officials defend city manager's salary
Author: Karissa Neely - Correspondent
CEDAR HILLS -- City Council elections are heating up in Cedar Hills, and one issue has
popped up among some groups -- the city manager's salary.
At a recent council meeting, the council worked to codify city manager Konrad Hildebrandt's
existing employee contract. Hildebrandt said the city's attorney urged Hildebrandt and the
council to do this, because for the past four years, there have been changes to his contract in his
yearly performance reviews, but it has not been made official in city code.
"There was no contract made (at the meeting), we were just codifying an existing contract that
previous was in effect from performance reviews in the past four years," Hildebrandt said.
Hildebrandt's yearly salary was increased about $9,000 and his severance pay was extended to
nine months. Hildebrandt's salary went from $103,500 to $112,000.
Digging into surrounding cities yields similar salary structures.
Cedar Hills's population is just less than 10,000 and is comparable to Lindon, with a population
of about 11,000, and close neighbor, Alpine, with just more than 10,000 residents. Alpine
recently hired a city administrator with a salary of about $118,000.
"That's more than I make, and I've been here 10 years," Hildebrandt said. He started in January
2002. "The majority of cities around Cedar Hills pay more than Cedar Hills. We are on the low
end."
Of 12 surrounding cities, including Highland, Lehi, Provo, Orem and Pleasant Grove, each paid
its city administrator or city manager more than Cedar Hills -- at least $10,000 a year more.
"Our city manager's salary is not out of line and is not skyrocketing," Councilman Scott Jackman
said. ... "While it is true that the city manager got a $9,000 raise last year, he received no increase
the previous three years. As economic times were hardest back then, we tightened our belts just
like everyone else. The nine months severance was approved some time in the past as well.
These kinds of benefits are not unusual for city managers, and I don't believe what our city
manager is receiving is out of line."
Cedar Hills Mayor Eric Richardson pointed out that compared to surrounding cities, Cedar Hills
has one of the lowest rates of city employees per thousand in population and runs a very tight
ship financially. Many city staffers wear multiple hats, covering multiple departments.
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