Two top Lakeland leaders have earned high marks from city officials, netting them significant pay raises.
City commissioners voted 7-0 on Jan. 20 to award merit-based pay raises to City Manager Shawn Sherrouse and City Attorney Palmer Davis.
Sherrouse will be given a 3% merit-based pay raise, retroactive to the start of this fiscal year, Oct. 1. This brings his annual salary to $283,250, according to city spokesman Jamin Smith.
That’s an increase of more than 18% since last year. Sherrouse received a $25,000 raise in October in his new contract based on a market wage study of comparable jobs.
Davis will receive a 2.5% merit-based increase, retroactive to Oct. 1. This raises his annual salary to $238,293.93, Smith said.
The merit-based raises provided to Sherrouse and Davis are aligned with the policy for Lakeland’s general employees: those with annual salaries below the market-average for their job title receive 3% merit-based raises, and those at or above the mid-point receive 2.5%.
There was little to no public commentary about Davis or Sherrouse’s performance reviews, since the city commissioners decided that annual public evaluations and reviews were no longer mandatory. No public review was held.