With salary and benefits the Mayor, the Mayor’s executive assistant, and the Chief of Staff cost the City approximately $213,000. Under the new structure, the full-time City Manager will earn a bit more than the Chief of Staff and the Mayor will earn slightly less than the current Mayor.
With a full-time executive assistant to the City Manager the total cost would be approximately the same. And because the City Manager is a professional manager, the City will become more efficient in its operations in the long run.
For comparison, note that Tompkins County pays an Administrator, two deputy administrators, and an executive assistant $655,500 per year to oversee its budget of approximately $190M, and 750 employees in 31 departments serving 105,000 residents.