Richmond city employee salaries rose significantly in the last 3 years, report finds

City of Richmond workers earned some big pay raises in recent years, the Times-Dispatch's Luca Powell reports .

Why it matters: City worker wages collectively come to $307 million a year, a sum paid for by Richmond taxpayers.

• It's also $70 million more than the city was paying its workers in March 2023, per the RTD.

The big picture: The city has been working to beef up pay since 2021 in an effort to attract and retain better talent, Richmond's chief administrative officer Lincoln Saunders told Axios recently .

• Its own internal reviews showed the city was paying far less for comparable positions than neighboring counties, Saunders said.

Zoom in: For the five years between fiscal years 2017 and 2021, city workers only received two cost of living adjustments, a 1% raise in 2019 and 3% the next year, according to data shared with Axios.

• Since then, workers saw a 4% or higher increase each year while the city boosted the minimum wage to $20, effective last month.
• Last year workers saw an 8% increase followed by a 4% bump this year.

All of that put the median salary for city workers at $66,000 a year — higher than Richmond's $59,000 median household income.

Yes, but: The city's top earners saw the biggest increases, the RTD notes.

• Richmond's CAO now earns $334,700, a 35% increase over last year.
• The city attorney makes $323,000, up 27% raise for the previous year.
• And the deputy CAO saw a 32% YOY increase to $236,000.

By the numbers: In all, 25 of the city's 3,900 employees now make $200,000 a year or more.

• 699 make over $100,000.
• Around 1,200 workers make less than $100,00 but more than the city's median income.
• And Mayor Stoney makes just under $131,000.

The bottom line: If you're in the market for a new job, City Hall might not be a bad place to find one .

Go deeper and explore the RTD's database of city salaries