BOUNTIFUL — The Bountiful City Council has renewed unanimously veteran city manager Tom Hardy’s contract for another two years.

Hardy is the dean of city managers in the county, having served as the city’s day-to-day CEO for the past 31 years.

The contract will take effect July 1, coinciding with the city’s fiscal year. As a part of that, Hardy will be bumped up from a grade 32 to grade 33, in terms of payroll grade, the city’s highest.

“That equates to about a 5 percent increase in pay,” said Mayor Joe Johnson, in discussing the contract with the city council last week.

Hardy’s salary is currently $120,000, so would increase to about $125,000 according to city officials.

That compares to 2008 levels of $165,153 for Layton city manager Alex Jensen, $155,000 for the St. George city manager, $143,000 for West Valley City’s chief executive, and $137,000 for the Provo city manager. according to information from the web site www.utahsright.com.

“I don’t think we can pay Tom enough,” the mayor said. “I can’t say enough about Tom.

“In the about two years I’ve been on the council, I’ve observed several key moments where the city manager pulled the city out of several sticky situations,” said Council member John Marc Knight. “He’s a bargain at probably twice the price.”

Johnson also compared Hardy to the often behind-the-scenes, unnoticed, but vital role rodeo clowns play.

“If the cowboys get bucked or pulled off, the clowns save them, at their own risk. That analogy is Tom saving the cowboys. Tom does that and we get the recognition.

“I am personally indebted to him,” Johnson said. “He has become a good friend and mentor.”

Hardy has been involved in seeing many projects to fruition, including work on such regional efforts as the South Davis Metro Fire Agency and South Davis Recreation Center. tbusselberg@davisclipper.com