The Pima County Board of Supervisors is expected to give County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry a new four-year, $184,900-a-year contract Tuesday.
That's a $4,400 raise for Huckelberry, 51, who has been the county's chief executive since December 1993.
The package includes $176,400 in base pay, and $8,500 or the maximum in tax-exempt deferred compensation legally allowed, whichever is greater.
He also is eligible for the same annual percentage raises given other city employees.
If Huckelberry is fired before January 2004, he collects $75,000 in severance damages, unless it's for neglecting his duties or breaking the law.
Democratic Board Chairman Raul Grijalva, who put Huckelberry's contract on the Tuesday agenda for a vote, said he hasn't secured commitments from other supervisors, but only one - Ray Carroll - has voiced significant objections.
Carroll is vacationing and couldn't be reached for comment. But aide Scott Egan said his boss opposes the contract.
Egan said allegations by Transportation Director Brooks Keenan that Huckelberry, Democratic Supervisor Dan Eckstrom and Grijalva improperly diverted large engineering contracts to political supporters, which have yet to be investigated, are a key reason for Carroll's opposition.
Other supervisors were out of their offices and did not return Star telephone calls.
Huckelberry has denied any wrongdoing in the awarding of the contracts.
He said his new salary, a 52 percent increase over what he was hired for seven years ago, reflects "the market for larger government institutions."
He said he read the contracts of new City Manager James Keene and new Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Stan Paz, both hired earlier this year, before beginning negotiations on his own contract.
Keene is paid slightly less than Huckelberry, at $178,000 a year. Paz makes somewhat more, at $207,000 in base pay and special benefits.
Huckelberry said taxpayers can expect the county deficit to be paid off by July, as promised, and for significant progress to be made implementing the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan over the next four years.
Grijalva said Huckelberry's position as a leading instigator and architect of that plan justifies his new deal.
Grijalva was the only supervisor to oppose Huckelberry's last contract renewal in October 1997.
He said the county is going into one of the most difficult phases of implementing the plan - educating the public and building support for the purchase and preservation of thousands of acres of vacant land.
"If we remove him, who are we going to replace him with? Who's going to finish the job? Chuck needs to finish what he started," Grijalva said.
He said he was also impressed with Huckelberry's budget efforts to pay off the county's estimated $45 million deficit in two years.
