Why all the uproar over LIPA paying some Navigant consultants $500 an hour ?
Even though each consultant’s “advice” is probably not worth more than the legal minimum wage, his hourly fee is equivalent to “only” $4,000 for an 8-hour day, “only” $20,000 for a 5-day week, and “only” ONE MILLION DOLLARS for a 50-week year. Hey, if the guy’s “storm preparedness” advice wasn’t extraordinary, LIPA wouldn’t pay him that much—would they ? Maybe his insights are so brilliant that, like the Oreal woman used to say, he’s “worth it”. And, anyway, don’t LIPA’s initials (secretly) stand for
“Let’s Increase Payments (or Payouts, or Payoffs) Astronomically” ?
And let’s not fail to appreciate Navigant for NOT being as profligate as the IRS ; which put up one of their guys in a $3,500 hotel room for 5 nights ($17,500) . In stark contrast, Navigant put up one of their consultants in a room costing “only” $542 a night; which meant they paid “only” $6,815.30 for 11 nights—which was $10,000 less than the IRS paid for a mere 5 nights. We should be thanking LIPA for hiring such a cost-conscious company as Navigant; which was so relatively thrifty with the money we ratepayers gave LIPA to give them.
Richard Siegelman
