Olympia City Manager receives 4.5% salary increase. Here’s how much he makes now
Olympia City Council voted to give City Manager Jay Burney a raise Tuesday night.
Burney received a 4.5% bump in pay, increasing his salary to $252,500 from $241,500, according to city information and Burney himself. He shared details about his previous salary with The Olympian during the meeting.
The increase is retroactive to Jan. 1.
“The council has determined that the performance of City Manager Steven J. Burney continues to meet council expectations and should be recognized, and that the salary for the position of City Manager should be competitive with salaries offered by other cities for the same position,” the salary increase agenda item reads.
For example, when the city of Lacey was looking for its next city manager after Scott Spence departed, the salary ranged between $195,000 and $250,000.
Burney has spent 26 years at the city, 10 of them as assistant city manager and five as the city manager, he said. The raise was approved as part of the council’s consent calendar, a portion of a public meeting agenda that typically is reserved for routine items that are not discussed.
However, Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne shared several thoughts about the job Burney has done after Tuesday’s meeting.
“The city manager has done a wonderful job,” Payne said. “He has been leading our city in this role since 2020 as our city manager, and he’s been through some pretty tumultuous times.”
Payne cited the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, the COVID-19 pandemic and the “really heavy task” of balancing the city’s budget.
“We are going to be faced with another tough budget for this year as well, and the city manager has been leading the way through all of that work,” Payne said.
He also described the council as goals-driven and that Burney has helped them reach their goals.
“The city council is very ambitious, and yet we constantly, year after year, are achieving nearly 100% completion of our annual work plan for the council every single year,” Payne said.
“That’s why we are looking at the city manager’s compensation, and wanted to demonstrate that we value him as our city’s executive,” he added.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
