ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo has created a task force to investigate compensation levels for senior officials at not-for-profit companies that receive taxpayer support.
"Executives at these not-for-profits should be using the taxpayer dollars they receive to help New Yorkers, not to line their own pockets," Cuomo said in a release.
The announcement came a day after a New York Times article detailed compensation packages that included college tuition for the children of top executives at one company that received Medicaid funds to operate homes for the developmentally disabled.
The task force, which is expected to hold its first meeting in the next few days, will be led by state Inspector General Ellen Biben, Secretary of State Cesar Perales, newly installed Medicaid Inspector General Jim Cox and Benjamin Lawsky, who will serve as superintendent of the Department of Financial Services when it begins operations this fall.
Commissioners from the Department of Health, the Office of Mental Health and the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities will also serve on the task force.
There are currently no state rules governing executive or administrative compensation for not-for-profits that receive state support. Cuomo has made Medicaid redesign a central tenet of his cost-saving efforts. In the 2010-11 fiscal year, total Medicaid spending in New York topped $53 billion, including $14 billion in state funding.
Cuomo's release cited a January 2010 analysis of not-for-profit employees contracting with the mental hygiene agencies -- OPWDD, OMH and the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services -- that found approximately 1,926 employees with annual salaries greater than or equal to $100,000.
In June, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the creation of a Leadership Committee for Nonprofit Revitalization, which will be tasked with reducing the regulatory burden on nonprofits while strengthening accountability. Schneiderman spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said executive compensation will be one of that panel's areas of concentration.
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