The heads of the Cayman Islands Port Authority, Cayman Airways and the Cayman Islands Airports Authority earn at least as much as and, in some cases, more than Premier Alden McLaughlin, a Legislative Assembly parliamentary question has revealed.
Salary scales provided for the positions by Deputy Premier Moses Kirkconnell following a question from North Side MLA Ezzard Miller also revealed that the three authority heads are paid significantly more than government chief officers, who typically earn between $123,000 and $143,000 per year.
According to Mr. Kirkconnell, the annual salary range for the port director is between $180,000 and $204,000; for the Cayman Airways chief executive officer, between $150,000 and $180,000; and for the Cayman Islands Airports Authority chief executive, between $152,000 and $160,000.
Mr. Miller, who recalled when the first statutory authority was formed, said the head of a public authority at the time was considered equivalent to the head of a government department and was paid on a similar scale.
“So it is somewhat shocking to me to find out today that these people are paid more than the premier,” Mr. Miller said.
The premier’s annual salary is approximately $160,000 per year, Mr. McLaughlin confirmed when asked by the Cayman Compass on Thursday.
Mr. Miller’s initial question sought to determine why there is significant disparity between the pay of the head of the airports authority and the chiefs of Cayman Airways and the port authority.
“Can the minister say why the [airports authority] CEO is valued so little in comparison to the port director and the Cayman Airways CEO?” Mr. Miller asked. “I can’t tell you why he would be worth less than the others,” said Mr. Kirkconnell, who is the minister for tourism and transport. “Those are the salaries that, when I was elected, they were at.”
“Would the minister give an undertaking that he will determine why the port director and Cayman Airways [CEO] is paid so much more handsomely than the Cayman Islands Airports Authority and undertake to bring back to this House a review of these salary structures?” Mr. Miller asked. “If you look at the actual reports from these [agencies], they’re not that dissimilar in terms of the asset bases they manage and the number of staff that they supervise.”
Mr. Kirkconnell said he would seek to determine industry standards with regard to payment of airline CEOs and the like and report back to the member.
The deputy premier also said work is under way on a Public Authorities Bill that he said would lead to “globalization” of the authorities. Deputy Governor Franz Manderson said draft legislation would come to Cabinet within the next few weeks.
A number of revelations about the statutory authorities and government-owned companies in the Cayman Islands were made in a January report from the Cayman Islands Auditor General’s office, leading to calls by lawmakers to support the legislation.
Call for change
The auditor’s report concluded that specific audits of various statutory authorities and government-owned companies would be needed in the future to determine “the extent to which poor government practices have led to poor performance and lack of due diligence” in spending public money.
The problems identified in management, financing and politics of the entities do not apply equally across the 25 statutory authorities and government-owned companies reviewed between 2011 and 2012. However, many problems existed in a number of agencies, Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick said.
The ineffective management of these quasi-government agencies has led to confusion within the elected arm of government that oversees these agencies and which has ultimate responsibility for them, Mr. Swarbrick said, leading to serious questions about what the public is getting for its money.
“The linkages aren’t very clear between what government is trying to achieve and what the statutory authorities and government companies are doing,” Mr. Swarbrick said. “They should be looking at what results they’re trying to achieve. When you muddy the waters, when the policies and practices aren’t clearly defined, it creates the opportunity for the abuse of public funds.”
Premier McLaughlin said in January, “There are those who will say otherwise, but my view of [the creation of the statutory authorities and government companies] is that, by and large, that has not saved the government money.
“If you look at the salaries paid to statutory authorities and government companies compared to those in central government … you would be astounded. There are those in statutory authorities that earn more than the governor, let alone me or the deputy governor.
“We do not believe the statutory authorities and government companies can operate completely outside what obtains in the country and in the [central] government particularly,” the premier continued. “I think there is the mind-set in some of those who control these entities that they are a completely independent entity, doing whatever they want. That’s not the case at all.”
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How do these salaries compare with equivalent positions in the UK, or Miami, where you would have to assume that the responsibilities for the various positions are considerably more onerous. It would be an interesting comparison, especially as we have no Income Tax.
My question is to ask; do the taxpayers of the Cayman Islands feel they are getting a fair share of work in return for these salaries.
What the Government of Cayman needs to consider, is persons who are un employed and families who are not surviving. Every year voters go to the polls and elect a new Government. Has anyone been considering what salary they make and what they do to in their respective district to deserve it beside making promises. What are we getting anyway in return.
It’s not just the heads of these authorities that earn high salaries, in typical government fashion they all have so many chiefs you wonder if anything is left for the Indians.
Take the Airport Authority that has just simultaneously advertised for a Chief Security Officer, a Chief Safety officer and a Chief Customer Service Officer with salaries in a range up to US150,000. Applications have to be submitted to the Chief Human Services Officer and applicants have to report to the Chief Operations Officer and the Chief Executive Officer.
I am sure this advertisement has not mentioned all the Chiefs in the Airport Authority and it would be interesting to learn how many more there are.Also with the designation chief does this mean each position has a Deputy as it would seem to imply?.
Although Owen Roberts has just about the highest departure/travel taxes in the region it is hardly surprising that there are no funds left for airport development.
It would be interesting to find out what salaries are paid for similar positions at MIA but I doubt they would be higher despite the enormous gulf in the levels of responsibility.
It is clear that a number of these authorities take advantage of the complete lack of supervision from Government and consequent absence of any accountability for their actions. Hopefully the long overdue Public Authorities Bill will address these issues.
if you look at the US, the President make 400k/year and the government owned AMTRAK CEO get 350k…. if you look at the US airlines CEO who are paid by shareholders, they are being paid between 1.4-8.4 million/year.
So you can extrapolate these number in many ways. How much Alden make compared to Barack, compared to their duties, or why running a business pays more than being a civil servant…. one is hired and one is elected.
Interesting that the Minister will be looking for figures that will justify his relative’s fat salary?? If a CFO of American Airlines operated at the losses that Cayman Airways does year after year they would be tarred and feathered!!! Not to mention all that cash to oversee half a dozen aircraft. Sell them all and concentrate your patronage on more jobs for the masses rather than amassing fortunes for your good buddies!!!
I think they also need a PROFIT related bonus scheme too.
1 or 2 percent would be ideal…
Oh wait, the port authority made a 2 million loss – so the boss would need to pay back 20 – 40,000
and as for Cayman airways with a 10M loss, that would leave him on the 45 cent Raman Noodles 5 times a week.
😉
Seriously though, I bet an efficiency related bonus would see some pretty dramatic improvements over a couple of years.
Establishing Cayman Airways was a great idea some fifty or more years ago, and Jim Bodden was correct in feeling that it would call attention to The Land That Time Forgot, as it had been named in a magazine article in the 1950s.
The foolishness about CAL is that not that it was an experiment that did not work out, but that 50 to 60 Legislative Assemblies thereafter, with all the evidence that it is more of a drain on the budget than a shining attraction, the
LA’s have let it continue to suck up funds, while there is ample evidence that the Island is much better served by outside Commercial airlines. No shame on Mr. Bodden! It was a worthwhile attempt, but there comes a time when competent people cut their (and their countries) losses: CAL’s time expired years ago. JJV