Port Manatee director gets new contract, raise
PORT MANATEE -- A $10,000 raise plus the promise of another one of similar size in the coming months is keeping Port Manatee's executive director on the job for at least three more years.
On Thursday, the Manatee County Port Authority unanimously approved a new contract with Carlos Buqueras. He will receive a base salary of $198,725, or 5 percent more than he earned previously. The figure, according to negotiators on both sides of the deal, was hard fought over the past three months.
Coming after the authority extended Buqueras' previous contract in December to make time to haggle over salary and benefits, the deal seemed to please employer and employee. Under its terms, Buqueras, 60, will head the port into 2018.
"I think we wanted to reach something that was amenable to both sides," Buqueras said.
Members of the authority, particularly Chairwoman Carol Whitmore, said they were concerned late last year that more lucrative job offers from other Florida ports might lure Buqueras away. Authority member Vanessa Baugh, who led negotiations for the authority, said she had to balance those better offers against the port's financial performance under Buqueras' leadership.
She credited him for cutting the cost of port administration by more than $1 million last year. At the same time, the port has yet to see growth in revenues. Fiscal 2014 revenues dropped to $9.4 million from $9.9 million in 2013 and $10.1 million in 2012.
Baugh said the raise could have been greater based on what other Florida port directors are paid, but revenue performance needs to justify a higher salary. By comparison, the director of Port Tampa Bay earns about $360,000 a year, she said. The director of the state's largest port, Port Everglades, earns $257,000. Buqueras was hired three and a half years ago at a starting salary of $175,000.
"Had our revenues been higher, Carlos should have been one of the highest-paid directors in the state," Baugh said.
In addition to the bump in base salary, Buqueras may receive a 4
percent cost-of-living pay increase later this year. That increase would apply to all director-level port employees. Directors at the port have not received a COLA adjustment since September 2012. Whether they get it depends on whether the port makes its budgeted revenue numbers.
Commissioner Betsy Benac voiced concern the raises could put the port in a bad cash-flow position. Port finance director Denise Stufflebeam said revenues for the current fiscal year are in line with a $10.5 million budget projection.
The authority will review Buqueras' performance annually through the term of his contract. Authority members noted Buqueras travels extensively to foreign nations to develop business for the port and he is a unique asset with the ability to speak Spanish, French, Portuguese and English fluently.
The port is budgeting more than $3 million this year on employee compensation.
Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.
This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Port Manatee director gets new contract, raise."