UKIAH, CA., 11/12/26 — Ukiah would owe City Manager Sage Sangiacomo about $409,000 to $420,000 in severance if the City Council approved firing him without cause by June 30, 2027. Those figures come from the contract terms the council approved Nov. 4 and a pay schedule posted on the city’s website.
The council voted 5-0 to approve the changes The changes set Sangiacomo’s retirement date at Dec. 9, 2028, and raise the severance the city would owe him if the council fired him without cause before then.
What the pay schedule shows
Severance is the money a city pays a manager it lets go without cause, meaning without a finding that he did something wrong.
Sangiacomo’s old contract paid nine months of base salary. The new terms pay 12 months. They pay 18 months if the council approves firing him without cause during a set window. The window opens the day after a council election and closes June 30 of the next year. For this election, it runs through June 30, 2027. Three of the five council seats were on the Nov. 3 ballot, and the vote count is unofficial, with one seat very closely contested.
The amendment to his contract says the 18 months are paid “at the then current rate of base salary.”
A pay schedule posted on the city’s website lists two yearly rates for the city manager, effective Sept. 27, 2026: $272,872.91 and $279,694.67. The schedule doesn’t say which one Sangiacomo is paid.
At those rates, 12 months of severance would be about $273,000 to $280,000. Eighteen months would be about $409,000 to $420,000.
The Voice’s Nov. 5 story estimated the severance from his 2024 base pay of $260,253, the most recent figure on Transparent California, which posts public employees’ pay. That put 12 months at about $260,000 and 18 months at about $390,000.
Each rate on the schedule is 10% above the matching rate for the city’s electric utility director, the highest-paid department head on the schedule. Sangiacomo’s 2015 contract says his base salary can never be “less than 10% more than the Base Pay of any other Department Head or other City employee.”
Severance can’t be more than the pay he would have earned through Dec. 9, 2028. The contract running out on that date doesn’t trigger it.
Unused leave
The new terms also say the city will pay Sangiacomo for 100% of his unused vacation, sick and executive leave when he leaves, at his final base hourly rate. That’s on top of any severance.
The pay schedule lists hourly rates of $131.19 and $134.47 for the city manager. At those rates, 40 hours of unused leave would be worth about $5,250 to $5,380.
The amendment and the pay schedule don’t show how many hours of leave he has.
Sangiacomo told the council Nov. 4 that the changes don’t raise his pay. “There’s no change in salary or compensation proposed with this amendment. That’s not what this is about,” he said.
The city’s timeline
The city announced the retirement in a news release dated Nov. 5. The release says the amendments “update severance and accrued leave provisions.” It doesn’t give the severance or leave terms, or any dollar figures.
The release gives a timeline for replacing him. “The recruitment process is anticipated to begin in 2027, with the goal of having a successor in place in July 2028,” it says. That’s about five months before Sangiacomo’s contract ends.
The City Council will choose the next city manager, the release says.
“While my retirement is still some time away, I believe it’s important to plan thoughtfully for a transition,” Sangiacomo said in the release.