Flagler Beach City Manager Dale Martin Gets 4% Raise for Two Years’ Work, to $171,620

The Flagler Beach City Commission awarded City Manager Dale Martin a 4 percent raise, reflecting the last two years’ evaluations. The commission forgot to award him a raise last year. 

“It just fell off of our to-do list,” Commissioner Eric Cooley said. “We messed that up last year.” And Martin didn’t bring it up to the commissioners’ attention.

Martin was earning $165,000, the same salary he started with a little over two years ago. His new salary is $171,620.

“To be honest here, I’m never going to ask for a raise. I leave that strictly at your discretion,” Martin said.

The raise could have been based on the same formula used to award merit raises to city employees. Last year Martin’s evaluation equated to a B. This year, due to an unusually negative evaluation from first-year Commissioner John Cunningham, the cumulative evaluations equated to a C. But commissioners weren’t held to that. Martin is a contract employee, City Attorney Drew Smith said. He gets paid whatever the commissioners decide to pay him.

Martin was uncomfortable with the commission’s discussion–not about the results of his evaluation, which the commissioners did not discuss openly. They had done so in one-on-one meetings with him. He was uncomfortable with the commissioners trying to figure out how to break down what they thought they owed him from last year and combine it with what raise he ought to get this year.

“Okay, I’ll make it real easy,” Martin said. “We’re moving past last year. I’m not too concerned about it. If you want to consider that as part of this, 3 percent is what we budgeted. That equates to roughly a $5,000 raise for over the two years at the end of the day. And if you’re good with that, I’m good with that. Let’s move on.”

That would “undercut” him, Cooley said.

“He undercut himself, so he’s ok,” Commissioner Belhumeur, who’d not given Martin the most glowing evaluation, either, said. But it was Belhumeur who proposed going with 4 percent and who moved to approve the raise. There was no dissent from Cunningham: the motion passed unanimously.

“If I were doing this for money like you,” Martin said, referring to commissioners’ salary of $10,443, “I’m definitely underpaid, but I love what I do, and I look forward to working with all of you. It’s going to be an exciting year. So let’s move on.”