Ron Mathieu, the top official at the state's largest airport, won a 3 percent merit raise on Tuesday that boosted his annual salary to $235,994.65.
The raise was in line with pay increases Mathieu, executive director of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, has received in recent years and is the same percentage as the merit raises available to the rest of the airport's 155 employees.
The 3 percent merit raises are available to employees in the airport's $35 million operating budget for 2019.
Mathieu, 56, also received a $45,000 bonus and contributions equal to 2.5 percent of his salary to his two retirement accounts.
"It's consistent with what we've done in the past," said John Rutledge, a member of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission who made the motion outlining Mathieu's compensation.
Rutledge and fellow commissioner Stacy Hurst joined the commission meeting by phone. Also voting for the motion was Chairman Jesse Mason and commission members Meredith Catlett, Gus Vratsinas, Jill Floyd and Mark Camp.
"Our group, there's no question, is in agreement towards the satisfaction of his ability and effort and the job he does running the airport," Rutledge said. "We know it's, in large part, the quality of his staff and team as a whole but it also reflects the job he does and we're very grateful for him and his entire staff."
The airport commission voted unanimously Tuesday for the compensation package after spending about 30 minutes in executive session. Under state law, public boards and commissions can meet privately to discuss personnel matters, including compensation.
With the raise, Mathieu continues to be one of the highest-paid employees in Little Rock government agencies. At least four city executives have salaries that exceed $200,000.
The latest to join that exclusive club is Tad Bohannon, chief executive officer of Central Arkansas Water, who was granted a 3 percent raise last week for an annual salary of $202,135.44, up from $196,248 in 2018.
Jon Swanson, executive director of Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services, which provides ambulance service in central Arkansas but is governed by the Little Rock Ambulance Authority, and Greg Ramon, chief executive officer of the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority, also draw annual salaries of more than $200,000.
Mathieu's new salary approaches the compensation of executives who run the nation's busiest airports.
A survey by the Washington Post last summer showed that Brent Cagle, who leads Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C., was paid $236,042. The airport had 21.5 million boardings in 2016, the latest data available at the time of the survey.
Jack Potter, who heads Reagan National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., with 11.5 million and 10.6 million boardings, respectively, was the highest-paid executive in the Post survey, drawing $451,776 annually.
Clinton National had a little more than 1 million boardings in 2018, according to airport staff members.
Closer to home, the newly hired executive director of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, Aaron Burks, has a $205,000 annual salary. Northwest Arkansas Regional in Highfill, the state's second-busiest airport, had 750,000 boardings in 2018.
A survey of 10 airports taken at the time of Burks' hiring last fall showed an annual salary of about $250,000 for similar positions. The airports at Little Rock; Tulsa; Memphis; and Omaha, Neb., were among the airports in the survey.
An analysis of compensation and benefits survey of 130 airports by the Airports Council International-North America, an airport trade association in 2018 provided to the commission showed that Mathieu's 2017 base compensation was comparable to the base compensation of top executives at airports governed by airport authorities, airports in the southeastern United States and airports that served between 1 million and 5 million passengers.
However, Mathieu's total cash compensation was higher than average in the same metrics, according to the survey.
A separate report on compensation showed that Mathieu's base salary was more than $6,000 lower on average than the base salaries of top executives at seven regional airports, $84,000 lower than the average annual base salaries of chief executive officers in central Arkansas and nearly $150,000 lower than an analysis by a national compensation aggregation company compared with chief executive officers of transportation-related companies that have revenue and employee counts similar to Clinton National.
Mathieu's annual performance review came a month later than usual after the commission moved the review to the personnel committee for deliberations regarding additional retirement options for Mathieu and the rest of the airport employees.
"We wanted more options to explore for him, retirement-wise," Camp said. "Are there more options or plans that might be better and included in his package? We didn't have the answers to that."
The new deal for Mathieu follows a strong year for Clinton National, which saw passenger traffic rise 5.5 percent, to 2.1 million; the arrival of Frontier and Via airlines; and completion of a $26 million upgrade of the concourse.
The concourse project replaced 806 seats with ones that are equipped with charging stations that allow passengers to charge cellphones and other electronic devices. That project also renovated the 12 gate areas, replaced jet bridges and made other improvements.
Work is expected to begin within two weeks on a $5.3 million renovation of the pre-security lobby area on the terminal's second floor, the last project in a series totaling $90 million to modernize the passenger terminal.
The latest work will include new storefronts; ceiling, wall and floor finishes; lighting and fire-protection systems; video display walls; and public art. The project also involves renovating the River Bend restaurant, changes that would create some meeting rooms, and an additional space for people waiting for arrivals in the atrium, also called the lobby.
The project also will replace the escalators that carry passengers between the pre-security lobby area and the ticket lobby and baggage-claim area on the ground floor. Replacement of one elevator and the addition of a second is included.
Camp, executive director of the Arkansas Beautiful Commission, is one of the newest members of the airport commission and has a background in municipal finance.
"This airport is amazing," he said. Mathieu has "got a great staff. Ron has created that with all the experience he has. He really takes care of his employees, but he expects a lot out of them. I've been very impressed."
Metro on 03/20/2019