A.C. Gonzalez, Dallas City ManagerA.C. Gonzalez is our new city manager.

As interim city manager, he earned $250,000 annually. His predecessor, Mary Suhm, after years on the job, left earning $305,000 annually.

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So it only makes sense to pay him nearly $100,000 more than Suhm, right?

Of course, it makes no sense, unless you’re spending someone else’s money.

Gonzalez couldn’t negotiate from a position of strength, since there were two other finalists for the job and since a number of Council members made it clear they didn’t think he was the answer to moving Dallas forward. So no reason to bump his salary way over Suhm’s there.

Gonzalez botched his first major assignment as interim city manager, acting like a water boy for Yellow Cab in attempting to squash Uber, the ride-share service. No reason to reward him for that display of management prowess.

And what’s he going to do if the Council told him “hey, we’ll give you the job, but you’re going to earn $300,000 until you prove you can do it” — quit? Refuse to take the job? I don’t think so — $250,000 (his current salary) is pretty hard to replace these days.

So why, then, did the Council just jack his pay this morning by 60% over what he was earning and 33% over what the last city manager earned? Don’t they know that $100,000 would fill quite a few potholes or keep a few pools open this summer or pay for a myriad of other deferred maintenance issues around town?

I guess not. Again, it’s a whole lot easier to give away someone else’s money than it is to spend your own.

I don’t know Gonzalez, and I don’t blame him for taking the money. I do want to thank Rick Callahan and Adam Medrano for using their heads and voting not to overpay him, though.

As for the rest of the Council members: Remember that $100,000 when some neighborhood group asks you for funding help this year, and you have to tell them the City is all tapped out.