Letter to Editor | OPALCO General Manager makes how much per year?

||| FROM ALEX MACLEOD |||

I saw OPALCO’s notice the other day inviting candidates on San Juan and Orcas Islands to consider running for open seats on its board. To any mulling the possibility, and to those already holding seats on the cooperative, I’d like to pose a  question:

Why did the cooperative pay its general manager nearly $800,000 in 2024, a figure that’s surely risen substantially last year and this?

This figure comes from OPALCO’s 2024 report to the IRS, a public document the cooperative hasn’t yet posted on itswebsite. Foster Hildreth’s total reported compensation for that year was $791,700.

Of course Hildreth has two “jobs:” overseeing OPALCO andits wholly-owned Rock Island Communications. The reportsays he devotes 85% of his time to OPALCO, the remaining15% of his 40-hour work week to RIC.

Using those percentages, his take-home pay was based on a$437,355 salary for OPALCO and $261,500 salary for RIC.Then there’s another $270,040 in undefined “othercompensation” (most often contributions to a retirementprogram.

I left a message last week with OPALCO’s finance director was explanation, but got no response. Hildreth’s total compensation for the past five years, according to the reports to the IRS, comes to a little more than
$3.275 million. This for running a cooperative with a little over 11,000 members and an internet service provider with a few thousand customers.

For comparison, the head of Chelan PUD, which operates three dams and has 51,000 customers, is paid $467,000. Seattle City Light, which operates four dams, 16 major substations and delivers electricity to over 500,000 customers spread across 131 square miles, is paid $493,770.

And the highest paid executive of the Bonnev lle Power Administration, which supplies electricity to OPALCO and 130 other Northwest utilities, is paid $450,000.

So, to the board, which approves significant rate increases without much concern, as well as to those seeking to join the board, it might be time consider if our cooperative’s general manager’s pay passes the smell test. Does what he contributes really merit nearly $800,000 for one year (by now, if the pattern holds, likely closing in on $900,000)?

The cooperative members await your answers.

Alex MacLeod is a longtime OPALCO member on Shaw.