SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Her salary was already one of the highest among California’s city managers when she arrived four years ago, and now Deanna Santana’s latest raise, of $20,000, has ignited another heated debate about how much is too much.
Some Santa Clara City Council members who weren’t around when Santana was offered the city manager’s job in 2017 want a redo of her contract. They say they’ve heard numerous complaints from constituents about Santana’s $468,674.97 salary, and it doesn’t help that the city’s budget has taken a hit by the pandemic.
Santana did not respond to an email seeking comment, but at a Dec. 14 meeting she called suggestions that she shouldn’t receive her agreed-upon 4.5% cost of living adjustment “workplace intimidation and hostility.”
