This is always an interesting subject to me. 35% is a substantial raise, but research was done in cities of comparative size and what we pay our police/fire chief is still on the low end of what comparable municipalities pay for theirs.

http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2012-08/san-francisco-police-chief-to-be-nations-highest-paid-for-overseeing-14th-largest-force

That's an article about the San Francisco Police Chief, 307K a year for overseeing the 14th largest force. Even in the public sector, if the pay is not competitive you're not going to attract quality people. Fair compensation is the first step to ensure you have quality people in the right positions. As it stood employees under the chiefs were making almost as much and in some cases more money. What's the incentive for a hardworking employee to ascend through the ranks if the top position doesn't even make more money? More liability and scrutiny without any benefit?