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Show __ The SaltLake Tribune UTAH/NATION Sunday, April 27,1997 Auditor in part because it aggressively Big Paychecks for Top Executives A iegisiative audit will show thesalaries oftop executives in Utah's "quasi-public corporations." (* Inclwles other compensation) Questions Big Paychecks Salary Bonus! Layne Summerhays $176,155 $87,000) $266,407* John Pingre' $133,349 $18,360! $151,709 Workers Compensation Fund of Utah © Continued from A-1 cluding an $18,360 bonus. Utah Retirement Systems Exec- utive Director Dee Williams took home somewhere between $80,000 and $94,000 in salary and no bonuses, according to agency attorney Kevin Howard. Utah Transit ‘thonty Dee Williams Utah RetirementSystems William Erickson Utah Housing Finance Agency William Erickson, ex di-, rector of the Utah Housing Fi- nance Agency, refused to disclose his salary and that of Deputy Director Grant Whitaker to The Salt Lake Tribune — although state law requires that the information bedisclosed to the public andwill be included in thelegislative audit. Summerhays acknowledges being well-paid. But the WCFleadersays executive salaries area side issueto the question of whether the $670mil- lion fund — which took in reve- nueslast year of $179 million —is to be held to the standards of gov- Utah insurance companies. The average, including bonuses and stock options, is $283,370 annualss But if the hefty salary packages of two Professional Underwriters Liability Insurance executives are removed, the average plummets to $208,143 — more than 20 percent below Summerhays’ 1996 compensation. WCF officials respond that you get what you payfor. $80,000- 94,000 Total omen None | Estimate | $87,000 competes with private insurance companies by advertising, and entertaining clients in its $20,000- per-year Delta Center suite. Some competitors gripe that the fund’s federal tax exemption givesit an unfair advantagein the marketplace. The board, though, comes under its own fire in the audit for apparentconflicts of interest. Auditors question the dual role ment agencies that buy employee injury and accident insurance through the fund complain about er, whoalsois president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross BlueShield of Utah, from which the fund and its employees purchaselife and health insurance. But none of the estimated 29,000 companies and govern- its bottom line. Refused to Answer It has reduced premiums 31 percent in the past three yea ‘The Salt Lake Tribune ing injury claims. All but insolvent a decade ago, WCFnowhas a ring to the Utes’ NCAA Tournament successthis year. The audit is part of an ongoing ronflict among Utah policy-mak«rs about whether ‘quasi-public wrporations” should be reined tack as full-fledged government problem with incentive bonuses. Leavitt believes pay decisions are appropriately left up to the Workers Compensation Fund board, which he appoints. and has stellar record of declinheaithy surplus of nearly $170 million. “We. have one of the best workers-compensation systems in of Board Chairman Jed H. Pitch- Questions also are raised about the propriety of the board’s decision to pay Pitcher a $15,600 an- nualretainer instead of the $65 per hour compensation authorized by state financial officers. Hourly pay for state service re- quires documentation, whereas the retainer has no backup paper- agenciesor cut loose to operate as significant benefit to Utah's business climate.” work. “I asked thatI receive a retainer rather than documentallof the hours,” Pitcher says. “I'm in line private companies, Workers Compensation Fund salaries should be in line with The governor says executives’ with the hourly rate based on the oj Utah oftenis at the center of that philosophical tussle, at ieast America,” boasts Leavitt. The re- cord of premium cuts “is a very comparable private insurance companies, adding he sees no time I spend on the darned thing.” “If the state paid him for his actual time, we would owe him a whole bunch of money,” insists reen. : Pitcher and Workers Fund offi- cials also deny that Pitcher has used his position on the board 3o influence the purchase of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. ~ Anotherconflictissue raised ihvolves WCF board member Mark H. Heugly, a senior vice president of Zions First National Back. WCF does its banking at Zidiis. Additionally, Heugly was paid nearly $1,500 for his work as head of the board’s investment canis WCFofficials deétiy payments were “consultftig pan ” although that is howthey are described in dacuments. 4 In another director-consultaat relationship, the WCF in 1994 awarded a financial-managemént contract to then-board member Nolan Karras. Karras then resigned his beard position. = Summerhays and Green say that in each case, board members with potential conflicts excused themselves from discussion ‘of andvoting on contracts benefititig themselves or their outside companies. “If we wanted to cut our salaries back to the level of the Re- tirement Systems or some other agency, my people would be gone ernmentor business “If we're comparedto government agencies, then we're paid too much. There's just no argument about that,” Summerhays ays tomorrow,” says Melvin C. Green, vice chairman of the WCFboard. He compares Summerhays to University of Utah basketball coach Rick Majerus, who in 1995 dards, he insists, WCFsalaries made $300,000in salary, plus lucrative television and shoe-com- are below average. panyincome. But if judged byindustry stan- Summerhays provided The Salt Lake Tribune achartlisting top executives’ compensation at 17 ‘If you want somebody in the Furniture savings at 70M Get set for the playoffs with great brands Final Eight, you're going to have to pay for it,” says Green, refer- Oldest Mother Tells W hy She Wanted Baby ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON — Theworld’s oldest mother, who at the age of 63 gave birth last year in California, revealed her identity in an interview published Sunday in a British newspaper. Arceli Keh told The Express that her 60-year-old husband, Isa- $999 ization treatment that led to the birth of their daughter, Cynthia. 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