The Brighton City Council Thursday night approved a motion to increase the base pay of the city manager by 6 per cent, retroactive to Oct. 1st.

Approval by council brings the base salary of City Manager Nate Geinzer to $106,614. However, council felt that the rest of the package, based on a recommendation by the city’s Compensation Commission, needed to be reviewed by the city attorney and fine-tuned. If the recommendations made by the commission stand, it would bring Geinzer’s total pay – including perks – to about $128,600. Council Member Jon Emaus, who introduced the motion, explains the second part of the compensation package, which has yet to be approved, for WHMI.

Council Member Jim Bohn, a member of the Compensation Commission, gave a slide presentation in which he explained that several cities – both near Brighton and farther out, were queried to learn what their city managers received in the way of pay.

It was determined that Brighton was the lowest, when considering towns like nearby Howell and small cities in Washtenaw and Oakland counties. Farmington’s city manager earned the largest salary at over $138,000, followed by Plymouth and Northville at around $134,000. Emaus says the review by City Attorney Paul Burns should be back before council in 2-4 weeks. Geinzer has been the city manager since early 2016, succeeding Dana Foster in the position. (TT)