Executive Salaries At Issue—

Rell Seeks Standardized Rules At Quasi-Public Agencies

By Susan Haigh

Associated Press

HARTFORD — Officials of the state’s eight active quasi-public agencies, under pressure from Gov M. Jodi Rell, agreed February 18 to consider more uniform practices for compensation and benefits.

The agencies’ current practices are under scrutiny following a new audit that shows some quasi-public executives are receiving hefty salaries and perks that regular state employees don’t enjoy.

For example, Newtown resident Thomas Kirk, the chief executive officer of the state’s trash authority, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, earns $229,500 a year — more than every commissioner in state government.

“It certainly does not look good. We focus on dollars,” said Kevin J. Rasch, Rell’s legal counsel.

Rell’s staff plans to meet with officials from the quasi-public agencies over the next several months. Their first meeting was on Friday, but there were no promises of pay cuts or benefit givebacks.

Asked if he thinks he earns too much money as CEO of CRRA, Thomas Kirk joked that his wife doesn’t believe so.

Kirk said the trash authority has already made some substantial changes in administrative procedures, including cost-saving measures, in the wake of the recent scandal involving a failed $220 million deal with Enron.

“The changes CRRA made are probably going to be a good model, a good starting point [for other agencies],” he said.

Since the agencies are independently run by their respective boards of directors, Rell cannot force them to reduce salaries or impose particular changes. But she has said she hopes to persuade them to make some alterations to their policies.

“They’re quasi-publics. They have public in their name. There has to be some public service,” Rasch said.

Quasi-public agencies are established by the state but are operated outside of government. Some are self-funded while others depend on money from the state’s general fund.

The audit found that base salaries for quasi-public agency heads range from as much as $229,500 to $102,000. State service executive pay ranges from $183,340 to $66,330. Several quasi-public agencies provide their employees with paid life insurance and disability insurance benefits not offered to state workers.

Some provide compensatory time for managers while others provide reimbursement for education expenses. The Capital City Economic Development Authority provides its executive director a $600-a-month vehicle allowance.

Last month, Democratic state Sens Gary LeBeau, of East Hartford and Bill Finch of Bridgeport, after learning of payments made last year by the Connecticut Lottery Corp, introduced legislation that would limit the size of bonuses that can be awarded at any quasi-public state agency.

The Lottery last year authorized “incentive payments” for 17 officials, including two part-timers. The payments, which included raises of between three percent and six percent and bonuses of up to 11 percent, totaled $160,926.

The bonuses were part of an incentive program tied to the corporation’s performance as authorized by legislation enacted in 1996.