Naples approves pay raise for fire chief Pete DiMaria

The Naples City Council voted 6-0 on Wednesday for a 24% salary increase for fire chief Pete DiMaria as he takes on the role of interim city manager from November 6th.

Councilor Ted Blankenship was absent during the vote.

Naples:Naples City Council appoints fire chief Pete DiMaria as interim city manager

Related: Naples’ interim city manager is named the new Sanibel manager in a split vote

The new annual salary of $ 206,000 is about $ 40,500 more than DiMaria’s current salary, but the same as the salary that interim city manager Dana Souza received.

Souza resigned effective November 5th last month after the City of Sanibel hired him as permanent city manager. Following Souza’s announcement, the city council unanimously voted on October 14 to elect DiMaria as the new interim city manager of Naples.

Councilors Gary Price, Paul Perry and Ray Christman said DiMaria should be paid as much as Souza, but Councilor Mike McCabe said DiMaria should not be paid as much because he does not have the same skills, knowledge and experience as his predecessor .

“I think it should be the same because the duties will be the same,” Perry said.

Before:Naples fire chief Pete DiMaria is retiring after the last pension vote

As with Souza, the city council approved new benefits for DiMaria, such as paying 17% of his salary into his existing retirement plan while he is an interim city manager.

DiMaria recently decided not to get a second retirement pension after the city council voted on September 27 on an ordinance that would allow him to receive retirement pensions while earning a salary as a fire chief. DiMaria had announced that it would retire after the city council initially failed to approve the ordinance in August.

In 1989, DiMaria was hired by the city and promoted through the ranks, where she served as a firefighter, driving engineer, lieutenant, and battalion chief.

In 2019, DiMaria retired as battalion chief but was appointed fire chief six weeks later on condition that he would not be able to draw any pension benefits while serving with the fire department as fire chief, he said. When he retired, his monthly benefit was $ 8,780.

Contact Omar at omar.rodriguezortiz@naplesnews.com and on Twitter as @Omar_fromPR. Support his work by subscribing to the Naples Daily News.

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