El Paso Mayor Salary: Formula, Benefits, and Comparisons

The El Paso mayor salary is about $95,000 a year, set by a city charter formula that pays the mayor 1.5 times the El Paso County area median household income as reported each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.¹

How the Formula Works

Section 3.2 of the city charter ties the mayor’s base pay directly to local household income. The multiplier is 1.5, and the reference figure is HUD’s area median household income for El Paso County. Every September 1, the salary resets using the prior fiscal year’s figure, so pay moves with the local economy and no annual vote is needed.¹

That mechanism is why the headline number drifts upward over time rather than jumping in big steps. When local wages rise, the mayor’s pay rises. When they stall, it stalls.

What the Mayor Used to Earn

Before November 2018, the mayor earned a flat $45,000 a year, a figure that had been fixed for years regardless of inflation. Voters that fall approved a charter amendment replacing the flat salary with the current formula. The initial post-amendment salary, calculated against the 2017 HUD median of $45,300 for El Paso County, worked out to $67,950. Annual resets since have carried it to roughly $95,000 as of 2026.²

Part of the argument for the change was practical. A $45,000 salary made the job hard to take for anyone without outside wealth or an unusually flexible employer. Tying pay to local income was also meant to end the awkward practice of elected officials voting themselves raises.

How It Stacks Up

The number looks small next to the person who actually runs City Hall. City Manager Dionne Mack earns a base salary of $350,000, plus a $35,000 annual retirement contribution and a $6,000 car allowance.³ That gap reflects the council-manager government El Paso adopted in 2004: the manager is the chief administrative officer, and the mayor’s role is primarily legislative and ceremonial.

Against other large Texas cities, El Paso sits in the middle. San Antonio’s mayor earns roughly $96,600 after a recent adjustment. Houston’s mayor earns over $230,000, but Houston uses a strong-mayor system where the mayor runs the executive branch directly.

What the Pay Covers

The charter names the mayor as head of city government for ceremonial purposes and states that the mayor has no administrative duties beyond those the charter specifically grants.⁴ The job in practice includes:

Presiding over City Council meetings, proposing legislation, and voting only to break a tie.⁵
Vetoing council actions, with the exception that the mayor cannot veto a vote to remove the city manager or city attorney.
Nominating members of citizen advisory boards and commissions, subject to council approval.
Handling intergovernmental relationships and being recognized by the governor for purposes of military law.
Delivering an annual state of the city address.

Hiring staff, running departments, preparing the budget, and supervising daily operations all sit with the city manager under the charter.⁶ That split is the direct reason the manager’s paycheck is several times the mayor’s.

Pension and Benefits

Beyond salary, the mayor participates in the City of El Paso Employees Retirement Trust, a defined benefit pension. Participants contribute 8.95 percent of biweekly pay, deducted pre-tax. The benefit formula multiplies a percentage factor (2.25 percent for employees who started on or after September 1, 2011) by years of service and final wages, capped at 90 percent of the three-year average of final pay.⁷

On a $95,000 salary, the 8.95 percent contribution comes to roughly $8,500 withheld each year. The city also offers insurance coverage to eligible employees, though the charter does not spell out separate benefit terms for elected officials.

How the Salary Can Change

The yearly September 1 adjustment is automatic and needs no council action. The formula itself, however, lives in the city charter, and changing it takes a charter amendment approved by voters. That is how the current structure replaced the old flat $45,000 in the first place: the council put the amendment on the November 2018 ballot and voters approved it.¹

To freeze the salary, change the 1.5 multiplier, or scrap the formula, voters would have to pass another amendment. The council can place such a proposal on the ballot, but it cannot change the charter requirement on its own.

1
City of El Paso. Charter of the City of El Paso – Section 3.2
2
El Paso Times. What to Know About Pay for El Paso Employees, Mayor, City Council
3
El Paso Matters. Incoming El Paso City Manager Dionne Mack’s Annual Salary Set at $350,000
4
City of El Paso. Charter of the City of El Paso – Section 4.1
5
City of El Paso. Resolution Adopting the Rules of Order for the El Paso City Council – Section: Presiding Officer
6
City of El Paso. Charter of the City of El Paso – Section 5.2
7
City of El Paso Employees Retirement Trust. Summary Plan Description