Wilmington Industrial Development CEO making $300k+; Got increase last year

by Brian Freskos
Thursday, June 17, 2010

Four months after Wilmington Industrial Development (WID) drew some brief spotlight amid revelations that its chief executive officer received $303,669 in pay over fiscal year 2008, recently obtained tax records show that compensation in 2009 edged even higher – reports the Lumina News.

CEO Scott Satterfield took home $305,208 in base, bonus and incentive compensation in WID’s fiscal year 2009, according to the organization’s 990 tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Additional benefits carry the total compensation to $342,705.

The fiscal year 2009 ran from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

But Bill King, who chairs the WID board of directors and the executive committee that determines salaries, said that figure is skewed.

In 2008, he said, Satterfield’s pay included a more than $100,000 contractually obligated retention bonus, and that some of that bonus was double reported in the 2008 and 2009 tax forms.

Satterfield’s actual bonus in 2009 was $40,000, King said. Because his base salary was $210,000, his total take-home pay that year was around $250,000.

Additionally, tax forms show that Satterfield received $23,100 in deferred compensation (or what is otherwise 401k contributions) and $14,397 in nontaxable benefits, putting his total 2009 compensation at $287,497, according to the figures provided by King.

Satterfield, a 17-year employee of WID, directed all questions concerning his compensation to King.

New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington contract with WID for economic development and job creation services.

In 2009, the pair of government entities contributed a combined $214,656 through contractual agreements. They did the same in 2010, and are required to contribute that exact amount again in 2011, according to figures from each entity.

Those contracts are up for renewal following the 2011 fiscal year, documents show.

Cam Griffin, the budget director for New Hanover County, said the board of commissioners will discuss whether to extend that contract at its meeting on June 21.

New Hanover County and Wilmington entered into five-year contracts with WID beginning in fiscal year 2002 and both of them extended those agreements for a second five-year term. Their contributions have been adjusted upwards in accordance with the consumer price index, documents show.

As for oversight, New Hanover County and Wilmington require WID to provide financial audits each year, and the organization has abided by that obligation, government officials said.

WID hires an independent third-party—Lanier, Whaley, Craft & Co.—to complete those audits, King said.

Also, Mayor Bill Saffo of Wilmington and Commissioner Bobby Greer of New Hanover County serve as ex officio members on the WID board of directors.

Rick Biberstein, the secretary-treasurer of the three-member WID executive committee, estimated in an interview last February that government contracts account for roughly a quarter of WID’s overall funding. Most of the rest comes in the form of membership dues.

THANKS, LUMINA NEWS!
http://www.luminanews.com/article.asp?aid=6468&iid=225&sud=30