An examination of President Michael Martin’s contract with New Mexico State University reveals some perks provided by the foundation beyond what the university announced in May, when it restructured the agreement.
The perks were in public records and may have been known to some, but I’ve never seen any media coverage that has disclosed them to the public. On Tuesday, I received copies of the contracts for Martin and the new men’s basketball coach, Marvin Menzies.
The regents announced in May that Martin’s annual salary was being increased to $335,000. In addition, he would receive a $6,000-per-month housing allowance paid for by a secret donor and a $100,000 deferred payment that he will receive if he stays at NMSU through 2012, with 70 percent of it paid by a secret donor.
The university announced in June that Menzies had a three-year contract with a base salary of $325,000 and up to $200,000 in incentives.
The university also announced in May a restructuring, just before he left, of former men’s basketball coach Reggie Theus’ contract to give him annual compensation of $466,000, with $100,000 coming from a secret donor. Though Theus left before the new contract was signed, I requested a copy of any draft or other document that indicates the details of the agreement, but was told by university attorney Bruce Kite that none exists, so there is no record to provide.
I requested the documents because I wanted to disclose all the ways money is funneled to the compensation of the president and coaches from secret donors and through the non-profit NMSU Foundation.
When he was first hired in 2004, Martin’s contract included some perks provided by the foundation. He was to be provided with a deferred compensation fund equal to 10 percent of his salary each year that would be paid for by the university but invested by the foundation along with foundation funds. That was later amended to become the $100,000 deferred payment.
The foundation, from the start, provided the university with a vehicle for Martin to drive “primarily for university purposes,” and also pays the cost of insuring the vehicle. The university is responsible for maintenance and fuel.
Martin’s wife, when participating in university-related activities, obviously incurs travel costs. Under the terms of Martin’s contract, the foundation pays for such expenses.
Also paid for by the foundation, according to the agreement between the non-profit and NMSU, is an annual grant to Martin to lobby for donations. It can be used for “entertainment and travel,” according to the agreement, but such expenses “should be reasonable and include only those persons who are important to enhancing the goals of the university, including supporters, potential supporters, regents, administrators, faculty, staff and students, and spouses only when essential to the business at hand.” The amount of the grant is not stated in the contract.
Not paid for by the foundation, but also worth mentioning, is that the regents, according to the contract, “will reimburse president for reasonable entertainment, travel, and other expenses incurred by president in the performance of his duties as president.” In addition, the regents, according to the contract, pay for “a family membership at a country club of the president’s choosing in
The total paid by the foundation – $70,000 toward Martin’s deferred compensation, a $6,000-per-month housing allowance, purchase of and insurance for Martin’s vehicle and reimbursement of the travel expenses of Martin’s wife when she’s on university business. The foundation also invests Martin’s deferred compensation for him.
There are far fewer perks paid for by the foundation in Menzies’ contract. He gets deferred compensation each year of $25,000, paid for by the university, and it’s also invested by the foundation. In addition, his wife’s travel expenses are reimbursed by the foundation as long as prior approval is received from the university athletics director.
More intermingling of NMSU, foundation
One of the keys to whether the foundation’s records are public is whether it’s truly operating as an entity that is separate from the university. A few details in these contracts may be relevant.
• If the university and foundation are separate, is an agreement between the university and an employee of the university legally binding for the foundation? For example, if the foundation is required to buy a car for Martin and insure it, is the foundation really separate and independent of the university?
• Since the university and foundation both provide Martin with reimbursement of expenses related to carrying out his duties, how does he decide which will reimburse him? Fundraising is the first duty listed on Martin’s contract, so is there any difference between his duties as they relate to the university and those that relate to the foundation?
• How many employee contracts include reimbursement of spouse travel expenses through the foundation? How much is that costing the foundation?
• The university seems to be giving a university employee – the athletics director – discretion to spend the foundation’s money on travel expenses for Menzies’ wife. How can the foundation be independent when a university employee is allowed to tap into its funds?
And a really interesting question: How much is Martin being reimbursed by the foundation and university for entertainment and other expenses? What are those expenses?
I’ll be requesting some additional documents to see if I can shed more light on this.