The Little Rock National Airport, rolling in dough from parking lot, retail and airline fees, awarded 139 employees raises ranging from 1 to 5 percent.
The Municipal Airport Commission voted not to give Executive Director Ron Mathieu a raise after it was revealed that he paid $40,000 last year for “advertising” on the football field at his son’s private Christian school, which had solicited Mathieu for a gift to pay for the field’s new turf.
But Deputy Executive Director Bryan Malinowski, who with Mathieu charged $272,000 to the airport in expenses over a 12-month period ending in 2010, got a 3 percent raise. If pay information provided to the Times last November was accurate, and did not include any bonuse, that would bring his pay to $151,888.
Media and Marketing Director Tiajuana Williams, who disputed the Times’ accurate reporting on Mathieu and who has complied grudgingly with FOI requests, got a 3 percent raise, bringing her pay of $96,174 to around $99,059. Human Resources Director Allen Williams, whose response to an FOIA inquiry last week on whether the airport had awarded bonuses was only “Yes,” requiring a follow-up inquiry, got a 4.5 percent raise, bringing his pay to $111,878.
According to the airport’s attorney, there were no bonuses in 2011. There were 13 bonuses awarded in 2010; Mathieu did not get one. Malinowski got one for $5,000; Williams and Allen and other top brass got $3,000.