The $40,000 bonus City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco received from Seattle was several times larger than others he’d received in previous years and hit the maximum called for in his contract, even as the utility faces financial problems, Mayor Greg Nickels’ spokesman said.

Carrasco’s contract, signed when he took the post in 2004, calls for him to receive up to an 8 percent performance bonus each year, and a 10 percent retention bonus if he stayed at City Light for four years, said Nickels spokesman Alex Fryer.

Carrasco received about a 2.2 percent increase in 2005 and 2006, which came to a total of about $10,000 in bonuses, Fryer said.

He received no bonus in 2007.

But as the PostGlobe first reported on Tuesday, Carrasco received a $40,000 bonus about a month ago. That was made up of the 10 percent retention bonus plus the full 8 percent performance bonus he could receive, the highest he’s received while in office.

“This is no time to be awarding bonuses to city employees who are already highly paid. Forty thousand dollars is more than many families earn in an entire year,” City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Jan Drago said on Tuesday.

“I understand there is a need to pay competitive salaries for highly valued executives,” Drago said, “but the city must show restraint during tough economic times like these.”

Fryer said Carrasco had done much to improve the financial performance of City Light during his tenure – a fact supported by the City Council’s unanimous decision last year to reconfirm him for another four year term.

However, the timing is somewhat surprising that Nickels’ decision to grant him the maximum bonus comes during a year when the utility is facing a major budget shortfall.

The utility, which like other electric companies sells and buys its power to other utilities, was hit when natural gas prices dropped by roughly a third. The result: City Light expects to make $79 million in energy sales, about $90 million less than the $169 million it estimated.

Though at Nickels’ direction, the city held the line on rates this year, City Light is considering a number of measures and City Council members are creating an advisory board to examine what step should be taken, including raising rates.

Additionally, in order to not raise rates this year, the utility is cutting $21 million in its operations and maintenance budget and its capital improvement program by $43 million.

A statement from Nickels in April acknowledged, “Effects of these cuts include longer times to complete electrical service connections and street light repairs, and longer wait times at the utility’s call center.”

About two months later, Carrasco received a larger bonus than in previous years.

Fryer said City Light “is in a stable financial condition and its tough to find good managers to run big public utilities. Remember (City Light’s) budget is just under $1 billion. Regardless of what’s happening in the larger energy market, Jorge has a proven track record of accomplishment.”

“This is no time to be awarding bonuses to city employees who are already highly paid.  $40,000 is more than many families earn in an entire year,” City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Jan Drago said on Tuesday. 

“I understand there is a need to pay competitive salaries for highly valued executives,” Drago said, “but the city must show restraint during tough economic times like these.”

Bruce Harrell, chairman of the City Council’s utilities committee, said, “I fully understand why people question (the bonus) at a time of declining revenue, and furloughs for county and city staff. But on the other hand, this is a time when we need to retain strong leadership (at City Light).”

However, the issue moved to the arena of the current mayoral campaign when James Donaldson, the former Sonic running for office, released a statement saying that he was “outraged” by the bonus.

Donaldson said, “Mayor Nickels has his priorities all screwed up. This is a mayor who gave employees in four departments an unpaid furlough. This is a mayor who cut back library hours at a time when citizens are cutting back entertainment and camps for their children. This is a mayor who pulled garbage cans out of the parks throughout the City in order to save $180,000. This is a mayor who continues to look out for those of means, those who already have, and kick sand in the face of the little guy.”

Still, on Monday, Fryer said Carrasco has made a number of improvements during his tenure. Indeed City Council members unanimously voted to reconfirm Carrasco to a second four-year term last year.

City Council President Richard Conlin’s newsletter said at the time, “Councilmember Bruce Harrell led a thorough review of City Light and the Superintendent’s performance, and concluded that most of the Council’s program had been implemented successfully, and that City Light management had improved, although there are several outstanding policy issues that are still pending completion.  The Council agreed with Councilmember Harrell that the utility was making satisfactory progress under Superintendent Carrasco, and unanimously agreed to the reappointment.”

Before the most recent budget crunch, Fryer said Carrasco had make a number of moves to improve a utility that was hammered when electricity prices soared early this decade. City task forces found that the utility was not equipped to handle the situation, forcing it to buy energy by borrowing money and raising rates by 60 percent.

A City Light report supplied by Fryer said the utility has taken a more fiscally conservative approach under Carrasco. It has paid off its loans, and resolving not to borrow any more money. The moves restored its Standard & Poor’s credit rating to A+, and the utility lowered rates in 2007 by 8.4 percent and by an average of 5 percent over the last five years.

From Seattle City Light:

About 4,970 City Light customers are currently without power. City light crews have been dispatched to restore service. The following areas are affected:

Could this be a hint of Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn’s governing style? A group concerned about repealing the head tax sent out this Facebook message. Interesting approach by McGinn.

 

 

Hello Head Taxers,

Well, it appears as if the Council has gone and done it, repealed the so called “Head Tax.” You can read the latest here.

But on to the future. We were fortunate enough to be asked by Michael McGinn to get your thoughts on his transition into being our next Mayor. Michael’s approach is revolutionary, which should be no surprise. Rather than forming a blue ribbon transition committee he is asking people to fan out to gather answers to the questions below.

Would you please take a minute to answer these questions in about 50 words?

Two other things: we need the answers by the end of the day Friday, November 20th and please send your thoughts (or questions) to rogval@gmail.com.

You may get hit up for input more than once. Send your responses to one place.

Here are the three questions we ask you to find answers for:

1. How do we build the strongest possible team to achieve the policy objectives and values set forth by the campaign (grass roots community involvement, transparency and neighborhood focus)?

2. How do we build public trust in the new administration?

3. What do you view as the incoming administration and the city’s greatest challenge – what should we do first out of the gate?

Include your name (e-mail addresses don’t always correspond with addresses) if you like. This is a great opportunity to get your thoughts to Michael. There will be three town halls scheduled for the end of the month built on your input.

Thanks for all you do!

Roger Valdez

Rebecca Deehr

Renee Staton

Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel — the group suing to try to stop the tunnel project — says it is  launching a boycott campaign against Ivar’s Restaurant.  

Ivar’s CEO Bob Donegan has been a strong supporter of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with the tunnel.

Elizabeth Campbell, the group’s leader, said the group is planning to picket the restaurants.

 

 

 

Eight months after the closure of the P-I, Ruth Teichroeb, one of the paper’s investigative reporters, wondered what happened to everybody.

So she tried to find out.

Some of her key findings:

• Economic hard times: Only one-third have found new fulltime jobs and most are earning far less than they did at the P-I. Five people said their new jobs have higher salaries while 5 said they’re earning about the same. The vast majority, whether working or not, are struggling to pay the mortgage, afford health care and stay afloat economically.
•  Grieving the loss of the P-I:  Most said they miss the P-I newsroom with its special mix of collegiality and sense of mission. They miss the daily miracle of putting out a newspaper that served our community and made a difference.

“I really miss the camaraderie and familial atmosphere of a newsroom. In a nutshell, I’m in the real world now, and I don’t like it.” (former P-I sports copy editor)

“I see so many gaps in news reporting these days that P-I reporters and editors would have been filling were we still around. The paper was far from perfect, but it made a difference.” (Lisa Stiffler, former P-I environmental reporter)

Read more from Teichroeb’s blog, Safety Net.

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