No pay hike for Frank May, municipal airport manager|[07/19/08]

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 19, 2008

Vicksburg Municipal Airport manager Frank May will not receive a requested pay raise, the board voted in executive session Friday.

Board President Kimball Slaton said May’s annual contract was renewed just this summer, and the request for a $500 a month raise was not “fiscally feasible.” May has been a contracted employee of the board since March 2006, and said he has never received a raise in his $30,000 annual salary.

The board “realizes they’re not paying me what I should be paid, but the money is just not there at this point,” said May, who has been working at the airport in various capacities since 1977.

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May said he works an average of 40 to 50 hours per week for the board. He is the airport’s lone mechanic and inspector – for which he makes supplemental income – and said he also leases the board multiple gas trucks he owns for about $14,000 a year. Two part-time employees who help in overseeing airport operations are also contracted by the board. May said tough economic times prompted him to request a raise during the board’s monthly meeting last week, but admitted he was never optimistic about the chances of its being approved.

“It’s no secret the economy is in bad shape, but I can’t help the financial fix the board is in,” he said. “Everybody needs more money.”