City Creates New Management Positions

Fayetteville’s city revenue was about $70 million in 2000. It was down about 10 percent to $63 million before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and is projected to drop to $58 million in 2002. That figure will likely dip even further if the nation’s economy keeps crawling.

Despite the projected $3 million shortfall, the city administration has decided to add several new city manager poitions. That’s not what we’d expect from a department looking to make up for lost revenue.

Everything from a trails coordinator, an urban planner and a sustained environmental coordinator to a utilities manager and even a media specialist have been added to the city’s payroll, with salaries ranging from $35,000-$75,000.

Veteran city police with 20 years of service don’t make what some of the new, and may we add, far less important, posts’ pay. That can’t be good for morale at the Fayetteville Police Department.

And with such attractive salaries, we just wondered if there was a position for the Arkansas Darter Director. You may remember the darter, a rare species of small fish that lives in a Fayetteville spring, which caused an uproar in 2000’s construction sector.