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Wilmington Official: Pay Gap for Women on Payroll

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A city treasurer in Delaware says she's studied the numbers, and it's not fair that 94 percent of the city workers getting double-digit raises are men.

Women deserve pay equity, Wilmington Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter said in requesting a 19 percent raise for herself, to more than $135,000.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports that such a raise would make Jones-Potter the city's second-highest-paid employee after Robert Tracy, whose police chief salary was raised by nearly $50,000 last year, to $160,000.

Mayor Mike Purzycki's deputy chief of staff for policy and communications, John Rago, challenged the treasurer's presentation at Monday's budget hearing and said it excludes several women who earn six-figure salaries. He says any changes will come after the city concludes a comprehensive study on whether salaries match responsibilities.

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Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.