Colorado Springs Utilities CEO Travas Deal could see his salary increase by $150,000 after the Utilities Board of Directors meets Wednesday afternoon.

The Utilities Board, made up of the nine-member Colorado Springs City Council, is set to vote at Wednesday afternoon’s meeting on an update to Deal’s employment contract that would enact a major two-step increase to his salary. The vote will come after an executive session discussion on the agenda about an ’employment contract.’

The first proposed increase would take effect by the end of May and raise the salary to $625,000 for the rest of the year. The next step up, set to take place on Dec. 20, will increase it again to $700,000 for 2027.

The pay amendment on the board agenda would also put an annual salary adjustment in place for 2028, which would increase Deal’s pay by whatever percentage all Utilities employees receive that year.

The Utilities Board had not increased the CEO’s salary between 2018 and March of 2024, according to previous Gazette reporting, a period which covered Deal’s first year on the job and the entire term of previous CEO Aram Benyamin. During that time, the CEO of the municipal utility was paid $480,000 per year.

The board approved a pay bump for Deal in March 2024 and a second one last March to his current salary of $550,000.

One other proposed amendment to Deal’s employment agreement would provide him with six months of severance if he were fired without cause. The current contract provides him with between three and six months of severance.

Deal was named the fourth CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities in February 2023.