Five of the seven top Columbia Association officers are pulling in six-figure salaries, and one residents group is questioning how salaries and bonuses are rewarded.
“We don?t think money is being spent wisely,” said Alex Hekimian, head of the watchdog group Alliance for a Better Columbia, who received the compensation data from the CA and provided it to The Examiner. (Click here to see all salaries, bonuses, expenses and compensation packages from 2002 through 2007.)
Hekimian said the salary structure should be changed and bonuses better justified.
Topping the list in fiscal 2007 was CA President Maggie Brown, with a $183,973 salary and a $24,000 bonus, according to the data provided in an Aug. 17 letter to Hekimian from Brown.
“CA doesn?t make these compensation decisions in a vacuum,” CA spokesman Steve Sattler said. The organization relies on consultants to determine average wages.
A salary study conducted six years ago, which did not include benefits, showed the salaries were too low, he said. Another study of Brown?s compensation in 2006 showed her pay was also low, and in April she was given a $7,000 raise.
CA is planning another salary study, which will include salary and benefits.
However, Hekimian rejected the idea for a salary study, saying it?s a “way to justify raising salaries higher.”
The wages should be compared with state and county government employees, Hekimian said, since the homeowners association is quasi-governmental. Columbia homeowners pay an annual assessment, which some liken to a tax, of 68 cents per $100 of the valuation assessed on 50 percent of the property.
For example, the owner of a $300,000 property would pay $1,020.
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman?s chief administrative officer, the top appointed position, earns $154,000 a year.
CA Board Member Cynthia Coyle said she needed more information from the upcoming salary survey before determining whether the salaries are too high.
“I feel like the executives are paid a reasonable fee,” she said, adding they don?t receive benefits comparable to government employees.
CA Board Member Miles Coffman said the salary woes were a way for the alliance to “scream and holler,” rather than make a legitimate case for overcompensation.
“If [Hekimian] was really concerned, he would be more in favor of the compensation study,” he said, adding the salaries appeared to be appropriate.
