Wichita City Manager Robert Layton just got a 7.5% raise.

The City Council approved the nearly $18,000 annual pay hike Tuesday, bringing his base salary up to $252,832. The raise will retroactively be applied to his salary from the beginning of 2023.

Layton, who did not receive a pay increase last year, was awarded a 4% general pay raise and a 3.5% merit raise after all seven city council members completed a written evaluation of his performance between 2021 and 2023.

Layton took over as city manager in 2009.

Only Jeff Blubaugh voted against Layton’s pay bump. The outgoing council member, who plans to run for the Sedgwick County Commission this year, did not explain his reasoning.

“It’s been an honor to work with you,” fellow outgoing council member Bryan Frye told Layton from the bench. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for this city. You deserve this.

“I’m grateful that we’re in a position to not only fairly treat our manager but all of our employees, because of his leadership. Just a couple of weeks ago, we passed significant raises across the board,” Frye said.

Those raises ranged from 1.5% for some hourly employees, including those represented by the Service Employee International Union, to 2% for transit workers, 3% for firefighters, 4% for part-time and seasonal employees, and 13.27% for Wichita police officers. Employees across all divisions qualified for a 2.5% merit increase if their supervisors deemed them to have performed satisfactorily.

Esau Freeman, business representative for SEIU local lodge 513, which represents 800 city employees, urged council members not to vote for Layton’s combined 7.5% raise.

“I’m going to ask you guys to consider to give Bob the 1.5 percent [raise] that the classified employees got and maybe a 2.5 percent step increase because he thinks that that’s all the employees are worth that show up in the middle of the night and keep your water going,” Freeman said. “That’s how, apparently, he feels about the employees that go and make sure that when water mains are broke, they get fixed, repair your streets, make sure that things are running in this city.”

Freeman characterized Layton’s raise as a “slap in the face” to those employees.

“You, as someone who works in organized labor and believes people should be paid what they’re worth, would recognize that every year, employees should, if they’ve earned it, get a raise,” outgoing Mayor Brandon Whipple responded to Freeman.

Renegotiation of the service employees’ contract with the city is expected to begin in January.

Council member Brandon Johnson thanked Layton for his 14 years of service.

“I know sometimes there are loud criticisms, but not everybody realizes that you have seven bosses and sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t. You make the best of that to move our city forward,” Johnson said.

These achievements were identified by council members in their performance evaluation of Layton and included in the agenda report:

• American Rescue Plan Act funding allocation, supporting education, job training and entrepreneurship, and new police and fire stations

• Budget management

• Firefighter/police/service employee union contract negotiations

• Strengthening city of Wichita position in development agreements, enhancing clawbacks

• Northwest Water Treatment Facility and Biological Nutrient Removal (sewer system) construction

• Updating of city licensing and ordinances

• Affordable housing/homeless prevention strategies

• Opioid strategic plan

• Safe Streets partnership to distribute Nalaxone for harm reduction

• Integrated Care Team expansion

• Social worker embedded within Wichita Police Department

• Mental health and wellness

• University of Kansas psychiatrist program

• BioMed campus partnership with Wichita State and KU

• Direct flights from Wichita to D.C.

• Adoption of tree policy

• Cybersecurity protections

• Branch library upgrades, including Westlink

• Funding for real time crime center

• Transit system redesign

• Chester I Lewis Reflection Park renovations