Cape Girardeau's next city manager might command a higher salary than his predecessor.

The City Council might have to offer a bigger salary to get one of five finalists to take the job. "We may be paying substantially more," Mayor Al Spradling III said Monday.

J. Ronald Fischer was making slightly less than $60,000 annually when he retired last week after seven years as city manager.

Spradling said the council won't determine a salary until after it has chosen a city manager. "We haven't even talked about a dollar-and-cents amount with anybody," said Spradling.

Spradling said the salary is a matter of negotiation. "I think our starting point is probably going to be $60,000."

But that might not be enough. One finalist, Jeffrey Broughton, makes $74,000 as city manager of Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Spradling said the council will have to consider many factors in setting the salary.

"You look at cost of living, you look at their background and their professional accreditation and how experienced they are," the mayor said.

Regardless of experience, city managers as a rule don't make as much as school superintendents or university presidents.

A salary of $60,000 to $65,000 would be competitive for a city the size of Cape Girardeau, said Richard Sheets of the Missouri Municipal League in Jefferson City.

More than 100 people from across the nation applied recently for the job of city administrator in Jefferson City, a position that carried a salary range of $50,000 to $70,000, Sheets said.

As of July 1994, only 23 of 107 Missouri cities listed in a salary survey paid their city managers or administrators $70,000 or more. Kansas City had the highest salary at $127,104; Holts Summit had the lowest at $21,000.

Sheets said city managers historically have lagged behind school officials in terms of salaries. "I think it is the politics of it," he said.

City governments generally come under more scrutiny. City councils are more sensitive about salaries than school and university boards, he said.

"City councils tend to be more conservative and they look at that budget," he said.

CITY MANAGER SALARIES JULY '94

Kansas City, pop. 435,000

$127,104

Springfield, pop. 140,500

$110,116

Independence, pop. 112,300

$101,356

Chesterfield, pop. 37,991

$83,246

Blue Springs, pop. 40,000

$78,200

Joplin, pop. 40,961

$70,000

Cape Girardeau, pop. 34,400

$59,819

Perryville, pop. 6,933

$48,000

Fredericktown, pop. 3,950

$29,000

Holts Summit, pop. 2,292

$21,000