Archive for April 7, 2012
Free Legal Fair In Mountainair
by John Weckerle
Checking in on our friends at Mountainair Announcements, we find that the Second Judicial District Court Pro Bono Committee will be holding a “Law-La-Palooza” Free Legal Fair on Thursday, April 12 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Raymond G. Sanchez Community Center at 9800 4th Street NW in Albuquerque. Assistance will be provided on a first come, first-served basis, and interpreters and bilingual attorneys will be available. For more information and a copy of the event flyer, see the Mountainair Announcements article.
It’s Good Work If You Can Get It
by John Weckerle
KUNM has reported that Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) executives were awarded a total of $2.26 million in incentive fees last year, with nearly half going to the company’s president and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn, whose base salary is $575,000 (see the article, PNM Executives Paid Millions in Incentive Pay in 2011). Lest we react hastily, PNM has an explanation. According to the article: “PNM says the incentive payments are due to increases in the the company’s business performance and came from shareholders, not rates paid by customers.” We tend to be just a wee bit skeptical of this statement. Shareholders are not a source of revenue, and we find the prospect of all the shareholders sending a “Congratulations on a Great Job” card with a check in it to be a relatively unlikely scenario.
As reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican, rates, executive pay, and profits have risen dramatically since 2009. With respect to incentive fees earned by Ms. Vincent-Collawn, the article states: “Vincent-Collawn also received $1.2 million in compensation, all of it from the shareholders’ earnings. Bermudez said that’s written in her contract. “She has target points to receive that compensation. If the company does better financially, she is compensated. If she doesn’t perform, she loses the compensation.”
Now, we’re not against people being compensated for their successes or their investments. However, let us again point out that these incentives – and the shareholder earnings from which they are being taken – come from somewhere. A big chunk of somewhere exists in the form of rates paid by customers, and those customers are having a tough time. According to the article, New Mexico lost 45,000 jobs from 2007 to 2011, and average income has declined. Three consecutive rate hikes have pushed the cost of electricity up 41% over the past three years. We understand that PNM was in bad shape financially when the increases began, but it’s clear that, given the increase in profits and executive compensation, either the utility’s recovery is complete or ratepayers’ money is going to the wrong places. Regardless, it’s time for the Public Regulatory Commission to take a good, hard look at the rates and how they are being used, and make sure that future adjustments, up or down, are based on a thorough examination of the company’s finances.