Arkansas lawmakers pause approval of pay hike for state PBS director, pending audit resolution

An Arkansas legislative panel on Wednesday delayed a decision on a merit pay hike for the chief of Arkansas PBS until a pending audit is completed.

Courtney Pledger, the CEO and executive director of the Arkansas educational TV network, was up for a 5% merit increase that would make her new salary $188,998. That is about $32,000 more than the maximum salary for her pay grade and requires legislative approval, state Personnel Director Kay Barnhill told the members of the Arkansas Legislative Council’s personnel subcommittee.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, made the motion to postpone consideration of the raise until completion of legislative hearings on an audit critical of the Arkansas PBS Commission’s procurement practices.

The audit “is being referred to the prosecuting attorney, I believe,” Sullivan said in moving for the delay.

A legislative audit of the PBS Commission for fiscal year 2022 found the agency had circumvented and violated state procurement law, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported this month.

Members of a Legislative Joint Auditing Committee subgroup decided on Aug. 10 to continue discussion of the audit at the panel’s September meeting to allow pending questions to be answered.

During Wednesday’s discussion of Pledger’s proposed raise, Sullivan asked Barnhill to provide committee staff with information about the standards used to assess the PBS director’s job performance. A letter submitted to the Office of Personnel Management from PBS Commission Chair David Westbrook Doss Jr. said that Pledger received a 5 rating (Role Model), the top rating available to state employees.

Sullivan also requested information from Barnhill about which PBS employees had been fired or resigned over the past year, saying there had been significant turnover at the network.

Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, asked Barnhill to find out which PBS employees may have also received 5s on their performance evaluation, then had them lowered.

A year ago, the Arkansas Legislative Council unanimously approved a $27,418 increase in Pledger’s then-current salary of $152,582 to make her salary more competitive with other states in the South. At the time, Pledger was under consideration for a similar executive role at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, but she later withdrew.

The ALC vote occurred after some lawmakers balked at approving the PBS network’s $5.9 million budget, expressing concerns about some of its programming and questioning the need for such a significant raise. The council later approved the budget.