Seivers' compensation is hard to assess
The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) June 28, 2009 Sunday
Copyright 2009 The Tennessean
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The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee)
June 28, 2009 Sunday
SECTION: NEWS
LENGTH: 508 words
HEADLINE: Seivers' compensation is hard to assess
BYLINE: NEWS0201
BODY:
THE TENNESSEAN
Charles G. "Bones" Seivers is president/CEO of what is touted as a nonprofit governmental entity.
But finding out how much he is compensated for running the Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund - or how much he earns in extra consulting jobs with its vendors - would be difficult.
The four or five other employees who work at the bond fund have their pay disclosed each year in audits in compliance with state law. Some make total compensation packages of more than $200,000, including contributions to the state pension system.
Seivers, however, is listed as a private contractor in audits and doesn't disclose his pay package each year, citing a loophole in the law that he says allows him to not disclose his pay. Also, he has earned fees from bond fund vendors for consulting work done for them, but he has refused to disclose how much he's made from that work.
The Tennessean looked at bond fund meeting minutes provided by the nonprofit, bond documents, interviews and other records to try to piece together the most complete accounting of Seivers' pay package.
* Seivers receives a $150,000 to $175,000 salary from the bond fund, according to him.
* Bond fund minutes say he is paid a commission of one-tenth of 1 percent on each loan made to local governments. That comes out to $20,000 for each $20 million lent. The bond fund says it lent more than $400 million last year and has lent approximately $2 billion in the past decade.
* Seivers earns an annual consulting fee from the Tennessee Risk Management Pool, which, like the bond fund, is associated with the Tennessee Municipal League. That fee was approximately $90,000 in 1997, according to a Knoxville News Sentinel article. The pool declined a recent request to disclose Seivers' fee, and Pool President Lee Holland refused an interview request.
* Seivers' outside consulting arrangements with bond fund vendors have included Bank of America, SunTrust Bank and Paragon Municipal Consultants, the the financial adviser for the bond fund. Documents do not fully disclose how much Seivers earns through this consulting.
No disclosure in audits
Seivers had a fee-splitting arrangement with the head of Paragon, James Tobin, on early deals with the bond fund, and later did other consulting work for Paragon. Bank of America paid Seivers $168,000 in 2003 to help open doors in Jackson for bond deals not involving the bond fund, but bond documents suggest he has had other paid consulting jobs with the bank.
After the state started requiring audits in 1998, bond fund board minutes indicated Seivers would disclose his "contract fee to deter any questions." None of the audits on file has the disclosure, however.
Former State Comptroller John Morgan, a former bond fund board member, allowed his office to accept the bond fund audit for years without the disclosure. Comptroller Justin Wilson, who took office in January, said he will make a determination whether to accept this year's audit once he sees what is reported.
Brad Schrade can be reached at
615-259-8086 or bschrade@tennessean.com
LOAD-DATE: June 29, 2009
