The Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission on Tuesday approved a salary increase, bonus and pension contributions of more than $51,000 for the top official at the state's largest airport.
Ron Mathieu, executive director at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, will receive a 3 percent boost in pay and a $35,000 bonus, as well as contributions of 2.5 percent of salary to both his retirement and deferred salary accounts.
Mathieu's new annual salary will be $209,633.84, or $6,105.84 more than the $203,528 he drew last year. The contributions to his retirement and deferred salary accounts total $5,240.85 each. The deferred salary account is another form of retirement savings.
The raise, bonus and contributions came after the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission met for two hours in executive session Tuesday for its annual review of Mathieu's performance.
Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the commission chairman, left after 90 minutes to catch a flight. The remaining six members voted unanimously on Bob East's motion to grant Mathieu the money.
"Thank you for your continued confidence and support of the staff and I and the work that I've done," Mathieu said after the vote. "I'd also like to personally take the opportunity to thank the staff for the outstanding work you all did in 2014 and to just publicly challenge you to ... do better in 2015."
The move solidified Mathieu's place as the highest paid employee in city government. By contrast, Mayor Mark Stodola draws an annual salary of $160,000 while City Manager Bruce Moore has an annual salary of nearly $182,000.
Commissioners said they believe Mathieu's talents in managing the airport's $30 million budget and continuing to boost its bottom line amid a decline in passengers and difficulties attracting and keeping air service are as good as any airport executive's in the nation.
"He's an exceptional operator," commission member Tom Schueck said after the meeting.
He noted that the raise Mathieu received is about the same afforded his staff under the 2015 budget the commission already has approved. As for the bonus, Schueck added: "The bonus is based on what he did last year and not what he's going to do."
Clinton National finished 2014 with a profit of $14.3 million, exceeding its 2013 profit by $1.2 million. Last year also marked the sixth year in a row it has seen a profit increase.
But the number of people departing and arriving at the airport fell 4.2 percent last year. In 2014, 2,076,551 passengers came through Clinton National, 90,979 fewer than the 2,167,530 that traveled through the airport the previous year.
The last year-over-year gain was in 2012 when 2,292,962 passengers arrived and departed, a 3.99 percent increase from 2011.
The latest figures, from January, showed passenger volume declined 6.88 percent in the first month of the year.
The airport also saw American Airlines announce it would discontinue direct service between Clinton National and LaGuardia Airport in New York next month, less than a year after the flight began.
"We have challenges and the biggest challenge we have is emplanements, and to handle that you have to be a Houdini," Schueck said. "You're dealing with the airlines and the traveling public, and they both control your destiny there. Other than that, this airport is in great shape."
In a thick book outlining his accomplishments, Mathieu noted that under his stewardship, the airport had total savings and increased grants, revenue and net revenue totaling $62.3 million.
The savings included $5 million in a new agreement struck when TAC Air, a general aviation service operator, acquired Supermarine general aviation facility on the airport. The new agreement eliminated a commitment from the airport to pay a total of $4 million in future improvements and reduce its investment in required construction from $2 million to $1 million.
The airport also saved $2.2 million when TAC Air acquired the assets of Central Flying Service.
In addition to the airport's net revenue totaling $14.3 million, the airport also received a total of $4.4 million in federal and state grants last year and obtained a commitment from the Federal Aviation Administration of $13.7 million in discretionary funding for aviation-related airport projects over the next three years, Mathieu said. He also said the new agreement under which TAC Air took over Central resulted in $18 million in additional revenue to the airport over the life of the agreement.
Also last year, Standard & Poor's Rating Services affirmed its "A" rating on outstanding revenue bonds issued for the airport and said its financial outlook remains stable for the two-year rating period.
"We were very pleased with Mr. Mathieu's accomplishments and [with] his staff," commission member Jesse Mason said. "We feel as though he accomplished all of the assigned goals that the commission gave him in addition to goals that he added himself. With Ron's ability to engage staff and the commission, we feel he has been very successful."
Mathieu, 52, was named executive director of the airport in June 2008 with an annual salary of $164,000. He joined the airport staff as deputy director in January 2006 and became interim director in December 2007 after the departure of his predecessor, Deborah Schwartz.
Tuesday's commission action marked the fourth year in a row it has granted Mathieu raises, bonuses and retirement contributions. In 2011, the commission granted him no raise or bonus and voted to put a commission rebuke and a Mathieu apology in his personnel file for spending irregularities uncovered at the airport in 2010.
Metro on 02/18/2015