I’m not talking about the National Football League, either. I wish.
I’m talking about the N.C. League of Municipalities. Fellow JLF blog Squall Lines passes along the N&O investigation into the salaries of league executives. There’s a local angle here —- High Point City Council member Latimer Alexander serves as first vice president of the league’s Board of Directors. Alexander —who does not draw a salary —- passed questions about salaries along to Executive Director Ellis Hankins, who told the N&O to bug off. Evidently Hankins forgot that taxpayers support the league through dues paid by member governments.
The pensions aren’t bad, either:
Pension records show that league retirees are some of the best paid in state or local government.
General Counsel Andy Romanet, for example, retired in 2009 after 21 years with the organization. His final salary was $183,152, but he also received a lump-sum unused leave payment of $43,179, or the equivalent of 12 weeks of salary; a longevity payment of $9,229; and a $4,365 bonus.
Such additional compensation can be included to boost pensions. Romanet’s pension is $52,602 a year.
The league is pretty much a big-government organization, supporting forced annexation, tax increment financing while opposing legislation preventing municipalities from borrowing to pay for municipal broadband systems.
Remember Guilford County pulled out of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments because county commissioners weren’t sure what they were getting for their dues. I don’t expect the City of Greensboro to pull out of the league, but perhaps conservative members of the council will at least ask some hard questions.
