KC Council approves employment contract extension for City Manager Troy Schulte

After months of delay, the Kansas City Council on Thursday approved a multiyear contract extension for City Manager Troy Schulte.

It takes effect March 1 and continues to Feb. 28, 2018, with an automatic renewal for two more years unless the council provides notice not to renew by Sept. 1, 2017.

The contract boosts the manager’s annual salary from $209,104 to $220,000 on May 1, with a chance for future raises pegged to the average annual increase for other city employees.

The council voted 10-0, with council members Katheryn Shields, Lee Barnes and Teresa Loar absent from the vote.

The general sentiment from the public and within City Hall is that Schulte is “doing a great job,” said Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner, who led the contract-renewal process.

Wagner acknowledged the salary raise is significant but said it is still below the metro area’s highest city manager pay of more than $240,000 per year in Olathe.

The council had been preparing to vote Nov. 19 on a contract extension, since the existing agreement was to expire Dec. 1. But some council members who took office Aug. 1 said they needed more time to get to know the city manager before they could vote. They opted for a short-term extension to Feb. 25.

Influential civic leaders and other supporters then wrote letters opposing that delay and urging the council to move more swiftly, saying Schulte has handled the tough job well and the city needed management stability.

Schulte said Thursday he was pleased with the agreement.

“I’m happy it’s done,” he said after the council vote. “We’ll keep working.”

Schulte has been the city government’s administrative leader since late 2009. He was appointed acting city manager after Wayne Cauthen was removed, then got the official city manager appointment on May 19, 2011.

If Schulte fulfills the next four years on the job, he will be one of Kansas City’s longest-tenured city managers in recent history. Dave Olson served nearly nine years, resigning under pressure in 1993.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "KC Council approves employment contract extension for City Manager Troy Schulte."