Posted on 07/21/2006 8:19:45 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
The University of California's Board of Regents created three high-ranking jobs to supervise the system's troubled finances Thursday, the same day it agreed to let about 60 top executives keep some $1 million in extra compensation they weren't supposed to get.
The regents retroactively approved the raises and other perks, most of which audits had revealed were obtained by the president's office without going through the proper channels.
Three separate audits - performed by the Bureau of State Audits, an outside firm and the university's internal auditor - were launched after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that executives were getting millions in extra compensation while UC was sharply hiking student fees.
Board Chairman Gerald Parsky said regents didn't want to penalize the executives who got the improper payments because they weren't the ones who did anything wrong.
"We stepped back and evaluated it in the context of, was it something that we would have approved anyway, rather than just blanketly calling for funds to be paid back," he said.
The extra benefits included an $130,000 overpayment to UC San Diego Vice Chancellor Ed Holmes, enhanced retirement health benefits for UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and deferred compensation and extra vacation days for UC Riverside Chancellor France Cordova.
Regent Judith Hopkinson, chair of the board's compensation committee, said the regents approved the extra compensation because the executives are underpaid.
Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, criticized the regents' decision.
"Usually when a government entity gets caught with their hand in a cookie jar, they try to correct the problem," Yee said. "All they do is try to codify and sanctify what they are already doing."
State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, said the regents are out of touch with the public.
"UC is sending a bad message to the public and students: It's OK to waste taxpayer dollars," he said.
Some employees will get revised W-2 forms to include money they were paid without being reported as taxable income by the university.
The regents acknowledged the criticism from legislators and independent auditors by creating three positions to prevent future compensation issues. Salaries for the new positions were not set.
"It's meant to send a clear signal that the regents were not pleased with the way compliance and audits were handled in the past," Parsky said.
Another smashing job!
But this is California after all where we have a No Fault Gubamint mentality ... and literally, no one is ever to blame.
"It's meant to send a clear signal that the regents were not pleased with the way compliance and audits were handled in the past," Parsky said.
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How do you fix problems these days in California? Grow the bureaucracy, of course.
Your tax dollars at work. If a private company did this the SEC and the whole government would be down on them - Enron ring a bell?
I've got a wealthy uncle that we're all quite proud of. When the top executives got 6 figure bonuses at the same time the company laid people off he refused the bonus with the agreement that two of those people would remain on the payroll.
But this is California after all where we have a No Fault Gubamint mentality ... and literally, no one is ever to blame.
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Ain't that the truth! Even Gray Davis walks the streets, a free man, after what he did to California...the rotten pols protect each other, showing some honor amoungst thieves.
Glad I don't live there.
But, but wait!! Aren't the libs planning on going door to door in the midwest blaiming high college tuition on Bush? Howard Dean told them to.
The high tuition couldn't possibly be caused by the regents inappropriate financial dealings!
"Some employees will get revised W-2 forms to include money they were paid without being reported as taxable income by the university."
I suspect this is tied to the low-interest rate loans given to some UC administrators and faculty as mentioned earlier in CA: Low-rate loans for UC's elite on homes - Some less than 2 percent -- system won't divulge names.
Depending on the conditions of the loan, the amount by which the loan rate falls below a standardized rate computed by the IRS generates taxable income to the recipient.
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