Adams could receive less money from foundation

<p>The fund-raising University of Georgia Foundation has taken the first step to cut UGA President Michael Adams pay.</p><p>The foundation has created a committee to recommend a pay package for Adams and has set a limit that no more than 49 percent of his total compensation _ compared to 61 percent this year _ should come from the foundation, The Athens Banner-Herald reported Thursday.</p><p>This brings the amount the foundation contributes to Adams pay in line with a little-known Board of Regents policy that says University System of Georgia employees can only get less than half of its pay from outside sources.</p><p>About 61 percent of Adams $575,000 pay package this year will come from the foundation, not including the $48,000 his wife receives annually from the non-profit corporation, according to auditors Deloitte & Touche.</p><p>Salary recommendations from the committee must be approved by the foundations 54-member board of trustees, which is scheduled to meet in February. The committee was established at a closed-door meeting in October, the newspaper reported.</p><p>Some trustees who want Adams fired have vowed to cut his pay. But its legal counsel, King & Spalding, also recommended the decrease. In recent memos, attorneys said that paying more than half Adams salary could make him an employee of the foundation instead of the state.</p><p>Regents spokeswoman Arlethia Perry-Johnson said the regents did not formally waive the compensation policy. But the regents did authorize Chancellor Tom Meredith this year to negotiate supplements with foundations associated with UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University and the Medical College of Georgia and approved those salary packages, she said.</p><p>Adams this year will receive a $109,565 salary supplement from the foundation in addition to a $223,603 state salary and a $15,500 state housing allowance.</p><p>The foundation also provides Adams an automobile allowance of about $9,000 and membership fees for the Athens Country Club and other clubs valued at about $5,000.</p><p>Included in his pay package are deferred compensation worth about $170,000 (based on the schools fund-raising success) and a life insurance policy with a $1,800 annual premium. A longevity supplement of $40,000 is included, but Adams wont be eligible to receive most of it unless he is still employed at UGA as of Sept. 1, 2007, according to the auditors.</p><p>Likewise, Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough this year will receive a $121,158 supplement from the Georgia Tech Foundation plus a $231,754 state salary and a $15,500 housing allowance.</p><p>Clough also has deferred compensation in his pay package, said spokesman Bob Harty, who could not say how much the total package was worth. John Carter of the Georgia Tech Foundation declined to disclose the financial arrangements.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/12/181995