City of Sedona staff will potentially be getting a pay raise and maybe new help following the Sedona City Council’s priority retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 13 and 14.

Council gave direction to authorize a 2.5% midyear pay increase for current staff, as well as accepting proposals to add up to 10 or more new staff positions in the next one to two fiscal years.

‘Unrealistic Expectations’

City Manager Karen Osburn said an increase in staff pay was needed both in order to attract new staff — “sometimes we lose candidates because we can’t pay them what they think they need” — and to reward existing employees for tolerating the “demanding workload, expansive list of council priorities, highly critical nature and sometimes unrealistic expectations of the community we serve and ongoing criticism by the local media.”

Staff turnover was 22% in fiscal year 2022 and 23% in FY23 and is currently 10% so far in FY24.

Osburn estimated that the cost of the raise for one full year would be about $300,000.

The increase comes on top of pay raises of 5% in each of the three preceding fiscal years. Osburn stated that the city’s goal is for Sedona to offer the highest pay rates among the municipalities of the Verde Valley.

The average city employee, who makes $58,635 before benefits, will receive an additional $1,465.88 annually as a result of council’s approval of the increase.

In the city’s 2023 employee survey, 67% of city employees felt they were compensated fairly, while 15% felt their compensation was unfair and 19% expressed no opinion.

Sedona’s median individual income is $33,284.

Osburn’s presentation to council on the need for a pay raise was preceded by a sales and bed tax update by city Finance Director Cherie White, who reassured council that sales tax collections were 4% ahead of the budget and bed tax collections were 12% ahead of the budget through October, with a net increase of $426,409 in both categories for the first three months of the fiscal year.

New Faces

During the retreat, council and staff also proposed the addition of as many as 10 or more new staff positions during the next two fiscal years, primarily FY25.

“We don’t actually have all the staff that we need,” Councilwoman Melissa Dunn said.

Director of Public Works Kurt Harris outlined that his department will be looking to add at least five new employees during FY25, including a parking coordinator, an inspector, two maintenance staff, two custodial staff and possibly others.

“I’m also planning on asking for two more [tourism] coordinator positions,” city Communications Manager Lauren Browne told the council. She estimated these two positions would cost the city an additional $225,000 per year.

On May 10, Councilman Pete Furman had warned his fellow council members that forming a city Tourism Bureau would “start on the path of creating one of the largest bureaucracies that we’ll have in the city.”

In response to Councilwoman Jessica Williamson’s request that city staff incorporate additional urban design elements in future planning, Osburn said “I do think it would be helpful to have someone with an urban planning mindset.”

Osburn added that while she was unsure if the tasking would require a new position, there would be benefits to having a single staff member who could focus on design.

“I support a new person to do it,” Williamson said. “My inclination is always to say ‘yes,’ a new person who does only this.”

Dunn and Councilman Brian Fultz also spoke in favor of hiring an urban planner.

Furman, meanwhile, proposed that the city engage a trails coordinator to have “real conversations” with the U.S. Forest Service, the Greater Sedona Recreation Collaborative and other organizations on trail connectivity, maintenance, signage and related issues and help promote bicycle and pedestrian use.

An urban trails staffer “will be necessary as we build out the system,” Osburn said, although she was uncertain whether the position would be required in FY25 or FY26 due to other planned staff additions. “Eventually we will benefit from a position like this” to help “take ownership of our urban trail system.”

“This was a position that many of us expected to be needed,” Deputy City Manager Andy Dickey said. “I think it’s time.”

“Getting someone on board who can push the multi-modal in a pretty real on-the-ground sense could be pretty useful,” Williamson said. “I guess this is how governments grow.”

“This is part of our tourism plan,” Dunn said, connecting it to increased tourist use of bike rentals and shared use paths.

“Rack and stack what you need and come to us with decision packages,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said. “We’ll make a decision during the budget process.”

As previously discussed during the council’s budget work sessions in June, the new city manager will have the option to hire a second deputy city manager as well.

For FY24, the city of Sedona had budgeted for 181 fulltime equivalent employees, up from 178 in FY23 and 100 in FY10.

Correction: The print version of this story included an estimate of City Manager Karen Osburn’s new compensation following the pay raise. The city manager, city attorney and city magistrate are contract positions and will not be eligible to receive the midyear raise.