CA Releases Employee Salary Information

has released a full list of employee compensation by position that breaks down the $22 million spent in 2011 on salaries.

The 50 highest salaries account for approximately 25 percent of the $22 million spent, with the 19 employees who make more than $100,000 accounting for approximately 12 percent of total pay by the association.

Top 10 Salaries:

Rank Position Gross Salary (Compensation + Bonus) Bonus 1. President $250,227.65 $12,353 2. Vice President Sport and Fitness $201,413.06 $7,715.92 3 General Counsel $194,265.61 $7,648.07 4. Environmental Manager $171,092.53 $6,577.91 5. Vice Preisdent Administrative Services $160,088.03 $6,750.00 6. Acting Director Sport and Fitness $151,179.41 $6,682.75 7. Treasurer $146,750.52 $5,956.06 8. Director of Marketing $145,279.61 $5,400 9. Director of Community Services $138,625.20 $6,343.12 10. Chief Human Resource Officer $131,431.22 $5,464.99

Currently, CA employs 1,444 people including part-time, temporary and seasonal workers, according to CA spokesperson David Greisman. A full list of employee salaries has been posted here - http://patch.com/A-xKb4.

Salary costs made up approximately 40 percent of CA's Fiscal Year 2011 budget.

CA provided the payroll information to the Alliance for a Better Columbia, a local advocacy group. Tom Scott, of the Alliance, said the group , with exact salary figures, broken down by position, for years. The group received the information in late August, according to Scott.

CA said it didn't release the information immediately because it believed there was a discrepancy in the Maryland Homeowners' Association Act that allowed it to withhold salaries where only one person held a specific position. According to CA, releasing salaries of positions held by only one person would be disclosing personal financial information, which is not required to be released under the HOA Act.

However, the HOA Act states homeowners' associations may not withhold salary information of employees.

Greisman wrote in an email that the salaries of CA employees were determined by a Fiscal Year 2008 study done by the Hay Group, which looked at a variety of compensation databases to determine salaries. When asked if there was an organization similar in makeup to CA to compare the salaries with, Greisman said there was "no one organization comparable to CA."

The salary information was released as  its designation from a "homeowners' association" to a "nonprofit community service corporation." CA has said the change would save the association money and time that it spends reviewing amendments to the HOA Act that are largely inserted at the request of much smaller HOAs.

Members of the Alliance, along with at least one , argue that the reclassification may make it more difficult for homeowners who belong to CA to find information such as employee salaries, budget proposals and meeting notices.

In a statement recently posted to the CA Today Blog, CA wrote the legislation that would change the classification, "would cement, and in fact enhance, the same kind of protections and transparency provisions in the HOA Act."

CA at least two opportunities for public discussion of the reclassification over the next two months.

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Editor's Note, Correction: An original version of this article stated the ninth highest paid employee was a director of communication services, when in fact it was the director of community services. The article has been corrected, we regret the error.