High marks, and a pay increase, for EP’s city manager

Rick Getschow, the city manager of Eden Prairie for 13 years, continues to get high marks from the city council. With those marks comes higher pay to keep him on par with other city managers and to motivate him to stay in Eden Prairie.

The council’s latest annual look at Getschow’s performance yielded “overwhelmingly positive reviews,” Mayor Ron Case said Tuesday, noting that highlights of Getschow’s work include:

• preservation of the city’s AAA bond rating, the highest awarded by Moody’s Investors Service; 
• sound fiscal and budget management; 
• a modest tax-levy increase while maintaining high service levels; 
• and achievements in affordable housing, sustainability, community engagement, and public events.

With that, the council, at its Tuesday meeting, set the city manager’s 2024 pay at $230,000 with an additional $20,000 in employee health insurance premiums and PTO contributions or deferred compensation. The mayor said the total package represents an increase in compensation of about 6.8%.

Case said the move to set the manager’s compensation at $250,000 overall was in response to what managers in similar suburbs are being paid, and an acknowledgement that similar work in other states or the private sector remains as attractive options.

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“We’re a top-five city in the state of Minnesota … top five in almost everything,” Case said during the meeting, making note of high marks from residents in the every-other-year survey conducted by the city. “We need to compensate in that range. You don’t pay your leader the 27th most salary when we’re No. 1 in everything.”

Exactly where Eden Prairie ranks against other Minnesota cities or Twin Cities suburbs can be hard to pinpoint. In the last resident survey,  92% of respondents rated Eden Prairie’s overall quality of life as excellent or good, which places EP’s rating higher than benchmark communities. Eden Prairie has the 14th largest population among Minnesota cities, according to 2022 estimates by the state demographer, and is the 10th largest Twin Cities suburb.

According to city staff, Eden Prairie’s city tax rate remains among the lowest when compared to the 15 comparable metro-area suburbs of similar size. Its 2024 tax levy increase is also among the lowest in the metro area. But, using a Property Tax Calculator on the League of Minnesota Cities website, Eden Prairie is exactly in the middle among six neighboring cities – Bloomington, Chanhassen, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Shakopee – for 2022 city taxes on a $400,000 home. 

Case elaborated after the meeting:

“We’re not trying to best any other community; we’re not trying to necessarily make him the No. 1 high pay out there,” he said. “What we want  is to stay consistent” so that Eden Prairie is “in the same ballpark” as other highly rated suburbs such as Edina, Minnetonka, Woodbury, and Plymouth.

“There will be people, possibly, who feel like, ‘Wow, that’s a whole lot of money these days,’” he added. “I would caution that inflation has driven all kinds of numbers up.”

Until a repeal by the Legislature last year, Minnesota’s city employees were limited to annual pay of no more than 110% of the governor’s salary. That means other states, over the years, crept ahead of Minnesota in city executive pay, says Case, making a “brain drain” to other states more likely.

“Rick is from Wisconsin. He loves Wisconsin. We don’t want to lose him, ever, to Wisconsin,” the mayor added. “We want him to stay here because he’s doing a great job.”

Getschow, who was city manager in Hopkins before Eden Prairie,  was also lauded by council members this week for his leadership of 300 full-time employees and another 700 part-time or seasonal employees. In 2023, for the 10th year in a row, the City of Eden Prairie was named among the Top Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune newspaper.

What stands out most to Case is Getschow’s work in building relationships with the many layers of Eden Prairie – with the council, staff, community, and residents. “He just does a great job communicating,” he said.

But, Getschow gave credit to others following the council’s performance review.

“It’s the employees here that make this such an excellent community and city to work in,” he said. “It’s a testament to their work. Simple as that.”