Click on image to see full size, or go here: see the entire Nevada Independent IRS 990 form
The Nevada Independent online news agency operates as a DBA (Doing Business As) an entity known as the Nevada News Bureau Inc. (EIN: 27-3192716 | Las Vegas, NV, United States)
As an approved 501(c)3 entity (that’s a whole other discussion) they are required to file an IRS Form 990 every year to declare their contributions, distributions, etc. — their financials.
It’s an interesting thing to track. When we first checked in 2018, John Ralston, who runs the place, was listed as earning $215,024 ($214,650 in salary plus $14,374 in “other compensation from the organization and related organizations”).
We called him out on that kind of compensation being substantially more than any other person working for a similar entity in the state of Nevada, or anywhere outside major media markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. As we noted in our post here (Jon Ralston doing better than John L. Smith) that amount of compensation was “WAAAAAY out of line.”
Revenue for Nevada Independent has grown significantly year over year from 2016 ($405,150) to their last filing in 2020 ($2,468,840).
Since we pointed out Ralston’s compensation in that previous post, his total compensation has taken a significant dive over the years. His current total compensation now is $82,857 ($67,694 salary plus $15,163 in “other compensation from the organization and related organizations).
That’s a total compensation cut of $132,167. That’s pretty significant.
However, there’s no line item there for our “favorite” contributor, John L. Smith. He’s not listed as an “officer, director, trustee, key employee and highest compensated employee” in part VII of the IRS Form 990. Also, there’s a line item in Part IX line 7 that shows other salaries and wages as $684,293. So we guess John L. Smith is in there somewhere. His total compensation isn’t broken out separately.
Earning more than Ralston (at least as reported to the IRS) are two other employees — Chief Technology Officer Clifford Keeney, who receives a salary of $124,941; and Secretary Elizabeth Thompson, who receives a salary of $101,350. We find all that very interesting.
Here’s a little speculation, based on what we know about both Ralston and Smith.
- There’s no way Ralston is supporting himself on a salary of $67,964 — perhaps in the “other expenses line item of $312,610? Just fishing here …
- There’s no way Smith isn’t pulling down six figures. Again, speculation here. He had become used to six-figure salary compensation in that range in years past.
So what gives, guys? You owe the public some answers.