Pay-Plan Streamlining & Supervisory Compression · RFP §2.2
A separate executive ladder, built to streamline the pay plan and measure compression
RFP §2.2 directs us to review the overall pay-plan structure and provide recommendations to streamline, and to correct specific grade problems the City named, including the Staff Specialist and Executive Assistant grades that currently sit at the same level. To measure supervisory compression cleanly, where a manager's pay sits too close to the people they supervise, we lift executives and department heads onto a distinct grade ladder rather than pasting them onto the general schedule. The ladder below is tiered against the Florida comparator pool and reflects the span of control, budget authority, and charter status differences across Gainesville's leadership roles.
Executive / dept-head grades
24
Tier levels
6
Range floor → ceiling
$120K to $265K
| Tier | Role | Anchor range | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (Executive) | City Manager | $235,000 to 265,000 | Top of the organization, reporting to the City Commission. Anchors the ceiling the rest of the ladder must clear its supervisors against, benchmarked to Florida full-service-city managers. |
| Tier 2 (Executive) | Assistant City Manager(s) | $185,000 to 210,000 | Deputy tier bridging the City Manager and the directors. The Tier 2-to-Tier 4 gap is the first compression check: directors should not crowd this band. |
| Tier 3 (Public Safety Chief) | Police Chief / Fire Chief | $180,000 to 200,000 | Command of sworn workforces on the Consolidated Police & Fire pension. Market band reflects the supervisory gap over captains and battalion chiefs and the 24/7 accountability of the role. |
| Tier 4 (Director) | Directors of Public Works / Transit / Finance / IT | $165,000 to 176,000 | Senior departmental leaders with large budgets and federal-program exposure (RTS transit, capital works). Each must hold a defensible spread over their highest-paid direct report. |
| Tier 5 (Director) | Directors of HR / Parks & Rec / Sustainable Development / Housing | $150,000 to 168,000 | Directors with smaller spans of control or budget authority. Compression risk is highest here, where a director can sit close to a senior manager or a Tier-4 peer. |
| Tier 6 (Appointed / Charter) | City Clerk / City Auditor / Equity & Inclusion Director | $120,000 to 150,000 | Charter and appointed roles. Market floor reflects department size; the ladder still preserves a clear gap over supervised staff. |
City Manager: Gainesville vs. Florida comparators
How we anchor the top of the ladder, and the gap every supervisor below it must clear
Dept Head
City Manager
Illustrative top-of-range
$265,000
Pension class: General · 24.0% employer
Dept Head
Assistant City Manager
Illustrative top-of-range
$205,000
Pension class: General · 24.0% employer
Dept Head
Police Chief
Illustrative top-of-range
$198,000
Pension class: Police & Fire · 42.0% employer
Dept Head
Fire Chief
Illustrative top-of-range
$182,000
Pension class: Police & Fire · 42.0% employer
Dept Head
Transit Director
Illustrative top-of-range
$172,000
Pension class: General · 24.0% employer
Dept Head
Public Works Director
Illustrative top-of-range
$176,000
Pension class: General · 24.0% employer
Why a separate ladder is the right instrument for streamlining
Most general-workforce grade structures top out at the most senior individual-contributor level. Department heads carry budget authority, City Commission reporting, and charter responsibilities that do not fit on a single integrated schedule. Pasting them onto the general schedule is exactly what creates supervisory compression: the manager ends up a step or two above the people they supervise. Lifting them onto a distinct ladder lets us quantify each manager-to-direct-report gap and recommend the spread needed to clear it, while streamlining the overall structure the City asked us to review.
The named grade fixes: Staff Specialist and Executive Assistant
RFP §2.2 calls out that Staff Specialist and Staff Specialist Senior, and Executive Assistant and Executive Assistant Senior, currently sit at the same grade despite different scope. We treat these as a worked example of the streamlining exercise: separate the senior tiers by measurable factor differences (independent judgment, scope of support, confidential responsibility) and re-grade so the progression is real. The same logic runs across every job family with a compressed or duplicated grade, and across the City's seven bargaining agreements where grade placement is negotiated.