Tavares, FL - Oct. 8, 2011 - Actually, we aren't comparing the salaries, but discussing the relevancy of high salaries paid to managers running the two local Hospitals, Leesburg and Waterman, when taxpayers are asked to subsidize their non-profit PRIVATE corporations with $8-12-million of taxpayer funds.
The North Lake County Hospital District extracts $8-12 million per year from local property owners for corporate welfare payments to the Hospitals, but there are no salary caps until the hospitals give up the 40 year subsidies. Only two hospitals(a third gets a small share) receive the hospital, while all other local clinics that provide similar services have no ability to apply for or receive payments, which is anti-competitive.
Efforts are underway by Florida state Rep. Larry Metz to revamp the regulations for the District to define spending rules, remove the "entitlement" feature of only giving the money to two hospitals (which they claim is for indigent care, but no rules specify that) rather than all clinics providing such services, and also require the first ever referendum and voter approval on the tax for many taxpayers.
We have advocated that the Board members of the District, and the Florida regulations establishing the District should mandate salary caps on top managers so no one receives a salary greater than the Superintendent of Lake County Schools, which is about $165,000. Instead, several officers in both hospitals continue to receive $400,000 plus bonuses while still demanding taxpayer subsidies for their operations.
Now, a Florida State Senator is advocating the same position related to the "top staff" of the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority, which has had a number of scandals recently. The Authority receives about the same $8-million from the State that local hospitals receive from North Lake taxpayers. Florida State Senator Don Gaetz, (R) Niceville , is asking why Expressway top staff salaries exceed the level of the $140,000 which is the salary of the Florida State Dept. of Transportation Secretary. It seems, like the North Lake Hospitals, the Expressway Authority is paying excessive salaries like $247,000 (much less than hospital salaries) and it IS a government related agency funded by the State (and tolls).
Here are some quotes from the Orlando Sentinel article:
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Friday that no one working for a state-charted road authority should make more than the $140,000 paid annually to Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad.
Six administrators at the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority have higher salaries than Prasad, with director Mike Snyder leading at more than $247,000 a year. Snyder declined to comment Friday.
Two deputy directors, the general counsel, the director of construction and the chief financial officer all make more than Prasad as well.
Gaetz said if the authority can afford such salaries, it should not receive any money from the state, which is facing about $2 billion in cuts to its budget this coming year because of the faltering economy.
So, when you hear North Lake Hospital managers whining that they need continued funding of Hospital Tax subsidies without any votes and without any spending guidelines, you might also ask why shouldn't they have salary caps for top staff like that being demanded of the Expressway Authority. Or, like Senator Gaetz, you might ask why not eliminate the hospital tax subsidy completely if they can afford such salaries.
vj
Here is the Orlando Sentinel article regarding the Expressway wages
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-salaries-snyder-gaetz-20111007,0,7691990.story
