The Manteca City Council will decide tonight whether the city manager should be the highest paid municipal employee.

The decision will follow the expected approval of three-year memorandums of understanding with the city’s various bargaining groups that have already been ratified by the respective rank and file memberships.

Once the council approves the new contacts that cover basic compensation through June 30, 2029, City Manager Toni Lundgren’s base salary would be $286,761.

That would be 6.7 percent less than the top base salary of the subordinated executive group that will be at $307,000 or $21,761 more a year than the city manager’s salary.

The City Council is weighing a one-year adjustment that puts Lundgren’s base salary at $338,113 or 10 percent more than the top base salary of the subordinate executive team that includes department heads as well as assistant and deputy city managers.

The city manager’s salary, if approved, would be $31,113 higher than the next member of the city’s executive.

The adjustment would reflect a one-time adjustment of $51,352.

The city in recent years has been working toward bringing city employee salaries for various positions that are below the market and has made it difficult to secure qualified applicants to fill various jobs such as technicians for the wastewater treatment plant.

The increases were needed to bring engineering positions to the point that they were not below market in order to secure qualified candidates and reduce the odds of existing staff being poached by other cities have helped stabilize municipal employment in those areas. In turn it has helped reduce project delays on everything from street work to major infrastructure

“It enhanced our ability to retain and attract new employees,” noted Councilman Charlie Halford of the salary adjustments.

Halford said that was especially true with public safety positions and engineering jobs as Manteca is competing with other cities for a tight pool of qualified candidates.

And in the case of public safety where it involves shift work that allows for travel times to and from work that avoids commute hours, Manteca is competing with inner Bay Area cities as well.

“The community as a whole is much better off if we can retain all employees long term, but especially upper management,” Halford said.

Halford noted in his 32 years serving with the Manteca Police Department, Manteca had three city managers.

“I had one city manager during my three years as police chief,” Halford said. “It (stabilizes the city manager and department heads and) really enhances the city’s ability to deliver services to the community.”

Lundgren has been Manteca’s city manager for more than four years.

Prior to that, Manteca went through six city managers in five years.

Overall citywide, most municipal employees are seeing annual base salary increases effective July 1, 2026 of 4 percent, July 1, 2027 of 3 percent, and July 1, 2028 of 2 percent. Those are essentially cost of living increases

The select positions that had salary ranges adjusted to address market competitiveness and internal equity issues ranged from 2 to 7 percent.

An example of salary range adjustments based on the city commissioned Gallagher Total Compensation Study completed in March 2026 were in the police department.

Public safety dispatches will receive 5 percent in year 1, 4 percent in year 2, and 4 percent in year 3 while animal services officer, crime analyst, and animal services supervisor will receive 4 percent in each of the three years.

The range adjustments were targeted to put Manteca at the middle — or just above the middle.

The overall cost of the salary adjustments is $2.5 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, with $1.5 million coming from the general fund. The balance is for positions funded from enterprise accounts (sewer, water, and garbage rates) and special funding such as the restricted Measure M half cent sales tax for frontline public safety personnel.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email@mantecabulletin.com