Executive
Waste of the Day: Shenanigans Net Texas City Manager $1.2 Million Exit
A Texas city manager realized $1.2 million in total severances after leaving his job in Dallas, and gets the same deal in Austin.
![Texas quarter reverse](https://cnav.news/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Texas-quarter-reverse.jpg)
Topline: The official story is that T.C. Broadnax willingly left his job as city manager of Dallas and later accepted the same position with the city of Austin.
How the city manager got the involuntary discharge severance
And yet he still collected a $423,246 severance payment from Dallas on his way out – which he was only supposed to receive if he was forced out – according to payroll records obtained by OpenTheBooks through an open records request.
Combined with his new contract in Austin, OpenTheBooks’ auditors estimate that Broadnax will earn $1.2 million from taxpayers over just 18 months.
Key facts: Rumors had circulated since June 2022 of Broadnax potentially resigning as Dallas city manager because of disagreements with the city’s mayor and council members.
This February, Broadnax finally decided to leave. There was just one problem: his contract said he would only be paid severance if he was fired or city council pressured him to resign.
Broadnax reportedly held “secret” conversations with eight Dallas city council members and asked them to demand his resignation, according to anonymous sources interviewed by WFAA. That triggered his severance clause, worth one year of salary. Broadnax and his colleagues have not refuted the report.
For months, city officials refused to tell reporters whether Broadnax would collect his severance, even after Mayor Eric Johnson publicly said the payment should be nullified.
Records obtained by OpenTheBooks confirmed that Broadnax received his payout on June 3, a month after he’d already started work as Austin’s city manager.
Dallas also paid Broadnax $43,789 for unused vacation time, $3,225 for a “vaccine incentive” and more.
The highest-paid Dallas employee
He’s earned $611,000 from Dallas since Jan. 1, making him the highest-paid Dallas employee in OpenTheBooks’ records dating back to 2017.
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
Background: Broadnax’s new contract with Austin is one of the most generous deals for a local administrator in all of America.
His base salary is $470,000, higher than any other Texas city manager based on 2023 data. It’s also higher than the salary in Phoenix, Arizona, the most populous area with a city manager.
He’ll also get a housing allowance, cell phone allowance, vacation time and more.
The contract is worth at least $607,000 this year. That’s likely an underestimate; it doesn’t include his potential “house hunting expenses” and the extra money Austin will pay Broadnax on his allowances to offset federal income tax.
How such golden parachutes break faith
Critical quote: “The Texas Legislature ought to take the step to protect taxpayers by forbidding these golden parachutes for city employees in any locality in the state,” Dallas Mayor Johnson said in his weekly newsletter. “It’s time for the Dallas City Council to take a stand by definitively stating that there won’t be a golden parachute clause in the next city manager’s contract.”
Summary: Public servants should spend their working hours helping their constituents, not devising schemes to take even more taxpayer money.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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