Controversy erupts over Coast tourism chief’s salary, style. ‘It’s on the steep side.’
Debate is coming to a head within the agency that draws tourists to the Mississippi Coast, with Harrison County supervisors and some tourism commissioners questioning the six-figure salary and management style of Coastal Mississippi CEO Milton Segarra.
The timing couldn’t be worse for the conflict between Segarra and the commission that oversees tourism in the three Coast counties.
Just as people are eager to travel again — promising a busy summer tourist season in South Mississippi — a special meeting could determine if Segarra will remain CEO.
Coastal Mississippi’s board will hold the meeting at 1 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the job performance of Segarra and staff, plus “recommendations pertaining to governance structure,” the agenda says.
The state’s open meetings law allows the board to discuss “personnel matters” in a closed, private session.
How much commissioners will share about problems facing the agency remains to be seen.
“We do have some issues we’re trying to work through,” said commissioner Bill Holmes Sr., who as commission president in late 2017 signed Segarra’s initial employment contract.
CEO’s salary an issue
Segarra, who was CEO of Meet Puerto Rico convention and visitors’ bureau before joining Coastal Mississippi in January 2018, is one of the highest-paid public officials in the state, public records show.
His current base salary is $225,000 with generous benefits, a company car, an expense account and bonus pay based on performance. Only two statewide agency heads earn more, state personnel records show: the superintendent of public education and the executive director of the Medical Licensure Board.
By comparison, the director of the state’s largest economic development and marketing agency, the Mississippi Development Authority, pays its executive director $180,000, state personnel records show.
Segarra’s base salary is well above the mean wage for chief executives in Mississippi and well above the average pay for U.S. tourism directors, listed at $172,945 by salary.com.
“If you compare that to other director’s salaries, it is on the steep side,” said Beverly Martin, president of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors.
Pay set to increase for tourism chief
Segarra’s salary is set to go even higher, according to his current contract, with a raise each year. By October 2023, his contract calls for a base salary of $243,360.
His current salary of $225,000 represents a 9.8% increase over his starting salary in 2018.
“I don’t begrudge anybody the salaries they make,” Martin said. “That’s not my call. But at the time, during a pandemic, when other people are being laid off and budgets are being cut, I think the timing could have been better.”
Martin, who previously served on the tourism commission and as the agency’s acting director, said salary is not the only issue.
“It’s an issue of performance and insubordination and not getting the information these commissioners are requesting,” she said.
She said supervisors met with eight of the county’s nine commissioners about other management problems. She said each of the commissioners had a story about difficulty getting information from Segarra, including financial records requested by the commissioner who serves as finance committee vice chair.
“That’s just not right,” Martin said. “You cannot be the chairman of a finance committee and be denied detailed financial information. That’s unheard of. I think she did eventually get it, but it shouldn’t have been that hard.”
Segarra said through a spokesman that he was unable to comment on his salary or other issues being raised because they are the subject of a board meeting.
Conflict goes public
Coastal Mississippi is one of the few regional efforts that includes all three coast counties — Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. Special legislation creating the regional agency was seen as a way to boost tourism and fuel the economy in South Mississippi.
Harrison County contributes more than 80% of the operating funds through its room tax, and has the most clout on the commission, with nine governing members to three each for Hancock and Jackson counties.
But Martin said, “This is not an issue of one county versus other counties.”
Thursday’s meeting of the Gulf Coast Business Council opened with Ashley Edwards, president and CEO, saying people were asking him whether the tourism commission can survive its woes or if the state Legislature will get involved.
It took years to create the regional partnership to promote tourism across South Mississippi and to get the Legislature to approve it.
Tourism is up in South Mississippi, with Coast casinos in April reporting the highest monthly revenue ever.
Coastal Mississippi accounts for one-third of the state’s tourism employees, spending and taxes, Segarra has previously said. “This places our destination as one of the highest performing nationally last year,” he said.
Coastal Mississippi’s Board of Commissioners sent the Sun Herald a statement Friday afternoon. It said, in part:
“The COVID pandemic has proved challenging for all tourism-related businesses and organizations . . . However, as evidenced by recent reports of hotel occupancies and room-tax revenues, Coastal Mississippi has experienced outstanding success, and looks forward to building on this momentum in the future.”
Highest-paid Mississippi directors
Below are the top salaries for statewide agency heads in Mississippi from the State Personnel Board:
- $300,000: Carey Wright, state superintendent of public education
- $231,000: Kenneth Cleveland, executive director, Medical Licensure Board
- $215,000: Dr. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer, State Department of Health
- $183,240: Drew Snyder, executive director, Division of Medicaid
- $180,000: John Rounsaville, executive director, Mississippi Development Authority
This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
