How much do city workers make in this Boise suburb? Search our Kuna database
Kuna, Boise’s fast-growing neighbor to the southwest, has in recent years seen its population swell, its roads fill and its farmland gradually transform into developments from the likes of Meta.
No longer a small farming town, Ada County’s fourth-largest city is home to nearly 34,000 people — more than twice as many as in 2010 — according to 2025 data from the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho.
Who are the people managing that growth and keeping the city operating at Kuna City Hall? And what do they earn?
The Idaho Statesman has compiled the latest data on Kuna workers’ salaries, including in the Mayor’s Office and departments such as Parks and Recreation, Development Services and Public Works.
Excluding City Council members, Kuna’s 68 full-time city employees earn on average about $66,100 per year, according to data provided by the City Clerk’s Office on Dec. 19. The highest-paid official is Adam Wenger, the Public Works director, with an annual salary just shy of $125,000 a year.
Mayor Joe Stear, who is serving his third term, earns a little over $94,000 a year — roughly $5,000 more than he did last year.
Four members sit on the Kuna City Council, which meets every other week. Matt Biggs, John Laraway and Greg McPherson each earn $9,000 a year for the part-time, elected position, while Chris Bruce earns $12,000 a year as the City Council President.
Kuna contracts its police work out to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, while firefighting and emergency medical services in Kuna are operated and funded through a separate taxing entity, the Kuna Rural Fire District.
Search the pay of Kuna’s full-time city employees in the Statesman’s database below. (If your device doesn’t display the search fields, click here.)
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy did we make this public?
Public employees work for taxpayers. Their salaries and wages are public information.
Idaho state employee pay has been publicly available on various websites, including the Idaho Statesman’s, for years. But there hasn’t always been an easy way to see what Treasure Valley local governments pay their employees.
We believe there is value in opening the curtains to show how governments spend taxpayer money. Not only can that sunshine help prevent and catch fraud, waste and abuse, it lets us see how wages differ between, and within, the many offices of our local governments.
Have an idea for another database? Think we should make more information public? Contact us at newsroom@idahostatesman.com or tips@idahostatesman.com.
How did we get the data?
We requested payroll and overtime data from local governments in December 2025.
What’s the fine print?
First, this is a snapshot in time. Employees are hired, fired, promoted and given raises every day.
Second, employees aren’t all paid the same way. For the most part, you can figure out an employee’s annual pay by multiplying their hourly rate by 2,080. But that’s not always true. Some employees are part-time. Some, like council members, are paid a set amount. Others, especially emergency first responders like firefighters and police officers, can work nontraditional hours and/or get overtime. Their annual pay may be higher — in some cases much higher — than their hourly rate would suggest.
Finally, the “hire date” isn’t necessarily the date that person first joined the ranks of public servants. Some employees are seasonal, temporary or took other jobs between stints working for the city or county.
This story was originally published December 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
