SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's state treasurer has handed out a few sizeable raises despite cuts to his department's budget.
Treasurer Tim Eichenberg gave pay hikes to nearly a dozen employees during his first year on the job. Some employees say their salaries increased by 20 percent and the chief financial officer's salary was boosted by 46 percent in ten months.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of the office's employees are doing the same work for the same pay and some jobs have been vacant since Eichenberg became treasurer.
He told KRQE that he plans to stick with his strategy of rewarding employees for extra work, extra training or extra value to taxpayers. Eichenberg says he plans to hand out 11 more raises in his next 15 months on the job.