Thomas Voss: Ameren Exec Gets A Raise After Down Year

Ameren Chief Executive Thomas Voss received a healthy 15 percent raise in 2011, bumping up his salary to $900,000. That doesn't sound too substantial for the head honcho at a big business, and it isn't. Voss also got more stock, a $1.1 million bonus, a $351,000 increase in his pension fund, and $80,000 more in deferred compensation, which brings his total payments to $5.7 million -- there's that one percent we know and love!

All this after Ameren's earnings per share dropped seven percent. But that's not all he received -- his position comes with "modest perquisites" according to the report. What are those like?
David Nicklaus reports that they include:

a company-provided phone, spousal travel, tickets to entertainment events, use of an electric car for two weeks and "personal use of a company facility."

This guy runs the electric company and he can only get an electric car for two weeks? What the hell is that? You'd think Ameren would hand out electric cars like grandpa hands out Werthers. Is that thing on a time-share, and all the executives only get it for a couple weeks a year? I hope for his sake, Voss gets it during spring break. He probably does, he's running the company.

Also, I'm intrigued by the use of the company facility deal. Does that mean Voss can commandeer one of the power plants for a slumber party? It seems almost malevolently vague, like it's leaving a door open for him to claim the Callaway Nuclear Plant as his secret headquarters. The guy got a million dollar bonus, it's not like he doesn't have the money to set up a ninja army or something similar.

The takeaway from all this is that I need to negotiate some perks for myself. Maybe some sort of brown liquor allowance...