The Fastest-Growing Department in Superior? The Mayor’s Office—And It Still Only Has The Same Two People

SoupNutz Exclusive: When the Mayors Office Outgrows Every Other Department in City Hall

In a town where potholes have names and departments scrape by on duct tape and optimism, one office soared above the rest like a gold-plated drone of government bloat:
Mayor Jim Paine’s Office.

Between 2018 and 2023, while most city departments begged for scraps, the Mayor’s Office quietly became the fastest-growing operation in Superior—in percentage terms, at least.
And it did it all with the efficiency of a magic trick.

No new staff. No added services. Just a 42% raise for the same two people.
Now that’s what I call administrative weight gain.

The Numbers That Should Embarrass Somebody

📈 + $120,800
👤👤 Still just Jim & Rebecca
💁‍♂️ Somehow more expensive than entire divisions growing their workforce

🏁 The Mayoral Sprint: Who Got Left in the Dust?

🛠️ Public Works (Streets Division):

• Budget Growth: +18%

• Handles roads, plows snow, fills literal craters

• Didn’t even grow as fast as Rebecca’s Microsoft Teams login

🚒 Fire Department:

• Budget Growth: ~23%

• Responds to emergencies, keeps people alive

• Still trailing behind the “Facebook Post Generator Department” upstairs

🧹 Parks & Rec:

• Budget Growth: Low to moderate

• Mows the grass, manages parks, staffs summer events

• Definitely didn’t get a 42% glow-up

🖥️ IT Department:

• Growth: Modest… until the 2027 tax hike hits for “software”

• Manages systems for the whole city

• Not growing as fast as an office that mostly writes emails and takes photos of ribbon cuttings

The Disappearing Act: More Money, Same Output

Here’s the thing: most departments grow because they’re doing more.
More services, more people, more trucks, more emergencies, more actual results.

But the Mayor’s Office?
Still just the same two humans. Still just a desk, a newsletter, and a camera phone.

So what’s all the extra money going to?

• Rebranding Mondays?

• Email signature upgrades?

• 42% in Taxpayer Raises?

• Taxpayer Funded Civil Rights Defense?

• Caffeine-fueled budget optimism?

• Emotional support PowerPoints?

No one knows.
All we know is: they outgrew departments that shovel snow, put out fires, and run your utilities—with nothing new to show for it.

🛑 This Isn’t a Joke—It’s a Red Flag

When the Mayors two-person office becomes the fastest-growing department in your entire city, you don’t celebrate.
You investigate.

Because at this point, the only thing growing faster than the Mayor’s Office budget…/
is the mayor’s office explanation list.

Mic Drop Moment:

Superior’s hardest-working departments are barely treading water.
Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Office rode a 42% budget jet ski increase into 2024 like it’s a taxpayer-sponsored vacation.

Two people.
Biggest raises in town.
And your taxes are going up for software next year ? really ?

Wait until you see 2024 and 2025.

Welcome to Superior, where government efficiency is just a line in the Monday Memo.

Sources : State Filings 2018-2023 

#CityofSuperiorSoftwareGrift

#SuperiorTaxesGoingUpAgain