It is a chronic situation. Our small town of 11,000 has a city manager making $179,000 a year and has a paid assistant. Go figure.
The city manager movement was seen as a way to counter the petty corruption of local politics by hiring a professional to prepare budgets and run operations. What has happened almost everywhere though, is employee unions, especially fire and police, can determine who gets elected, since they turn out the vote. Then the mayor and council hire a city manager who does their bidding—if he wants to keep his job. City managers help politicians get re-elected by putting fire stations in their districts, or receation centers, or fixing the potholes, or a seawall, or whatever. Bottom line: the bigger cities abandon the ruse of professional management and go to a strong mayor (blatantly corrupt) system of government.
THAT’S HOW SUPPOSEDLY PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS OVERSEE THE COMMUNITY’S FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY AND ULTIMATE BANKRUPTY. It takes a while and before the whole thing blows up, they leave and go to another city to screw up.