Some Saint Thomas Salaries Soar

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The former head of Saint Thomas Health got a 40 percent pay boost in the last fiscal year pushing his total income and benefit package to a little over $2.7 million, tax records show.
The tax return or 990 for Saint Thomas Health and related corporations show Michael Schatzlein's salary and benefits jumped by more than $700,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. Saint Thomas officials released a copy of the return last week.
In addition to Schatzlein, who has since taken on the role of senior vice president for Ascension Health, Saint Thomas' parent, Karen Springer an executive vice president for Saint Thomas saw her pay and benefits boosted by more than $235,000 to a total of $824,355, also a 40 percent hike.
Other top earners, according to the return, include physicians Stephen Fahrig at $1,160,371, Vafa Mansour at $1,216,961 and Joseph Boyd at $1,226,903. James Baker 2nd's salary and benefits dipped to $1,039,214 from the prior year's total of $1,299,159, the return shows.
Saint Thomas Health, the parent for the five hospital Saint Thomas system reported revenue of $278.7 million with expenses of $283,974,446 for a more than $5 million deficit. That compares to a $15.4 million deficit at the end of the prior year.
Two Saint Thomas hospitals, however, showed substantial year end surpluses. Saint Thomas Midtown had revenue top expenses by nearly $48.2 million while Saint Thomas West reported revenue topping expenses by $56.2 million.
Both of those hospitals also reported year end balances in the prior fiscal year with Saint Thomas Midtown reporting a $39.6 million year end balance and Saint Thomas West reporting a $67.8 million year end total. 
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UPenn Doubles Loan to President

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann's pay dipped slightly in the last fiscal year but her loan from the university more than doubled to $1.2 million.
UPenn's tax return, known as a 990, shows that while Gutmann's salary and benefits dropped from $3.4 to $3.3 million most of the top paid university staffers saw steady pay increases for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.
Overall the university reported revenue of nearly $6.3 billion compared to $6 billion the previous year. Expenses totaled $5.36 billion compared to a little under $5.2 million in the prior year. The non-profit reported revenue of $457 million from the federal Medicare program for payment of care of patients at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
University officials released a public copy of the annual return in response to a request last week.
Gutmann, according to the return, owed the university $1.25 million on a loan at the end of the fiscal year, while a balance due of $700,000 was listed a year earlier. Gutmann is working under a renewed contract that keeps her at the school to 2019.
The top UPenn money earner for the fiscal year was surgeon  Dr. Thomas L. Spray with salary and benefits totaling nearly $8.4 million, a substantial jump from his $1.88 million total from the prior year.
Peter Quinn, senior vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Health Services (UPHS) had total salary and benefits of  a little over $2 million compared to $1.4 million the prior year.
Ralph Mullen, chief executive officer of UPHS collected $2.5 million in salary and benefits while Dr. N. Scott Adzick had $2.1 million.
Keith Kasper, chief financial officer for UPHS, had salary and benefits of nearly $1.3 million, up from $1.2 million the year before. UPenn executive vice president Craig Carnaroli collected salary and benefits totaling nearly $1.4 million while Larry Jameson, who holds the same title, collected more than $2.6 million.
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Vanderbilt Expenses Up 5.1 %, Revenue Climbs 11.8 %

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Vanderbilt University's head football coach Derek Mason was paid a little over $2.5 million during his first year on the job while his predecessor James Franklin was paid $4 million during his last year in Nashville.
Mason's salary, along with other financial details were included in the tax return, known as a 990, filed recently by the university with the IRS for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.
Now departed basketball coach Kevin Stallings was paid $4.5 million during the fiscal year and he also collected $677,767 in deferred compensation.
Medical school dean, Dr. Jeffrey Balser collected $3.1 million in salary and benefits in addition to $1.3 million in deferred compensation. His total for the prior year was $1.9 million.
University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos was paid a little under $1.6 million, down from $2.3 million the prior year.
Athletic Director and Vice Chancellor David Williams had salary and benefits totaling a little over $1 million, down by over $1 million from the year before.
Other top earners were Dr. Charles Pinson at $2.1 million and Vice Chancellor for Finance Brett Sweet at nearly $1.2 million. Anders Hall, vice chancellor for investments, drew $2.5 million in salary and benefits.
According to the tax return, expenses climbed by $205.3 million to nearly $4.2 billion, a 5.1 per cent increase. Revenues were up by nearly $500 million to $4.5 billion, a nearly 11.8 per cent jump.
Overall salaries and benefits were up 2 per cent to $2.3 billion.
Top contractor's, the return shows, included Turner Universal Construction of Brentwood, Tenn.with $15.1 million, followed by contractor Brasfield and Gorrie of Nashville with $13.4 million. The university paid $10.7 million to Air Methods Corp. of Englewood, CO for aircraft services.
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World Meeting Nonprofit Raised $25.6 Million

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A nonprofit formed for the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia last year raised some $25.6 million and had a balance of $17 million just three months before the two day September visit of Pope Francis.
A tax return for the World Meeting of Families-Philadelphia for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 shows contributions to the organization ranged from $5,000 to $5 million. The return lists the amounts of individual donations, but not the names of donors.
The week long World Meeting in Philadelphia was the eighth such event. They are held every three years in different countries.
The return was released by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in response to a written request. It was filed and accepted by the IRS, according to archdiocese spokesman Kenneth Gavin.
The May filing shows the organization requested and was granted two three month extensions from the original filing deadline
Though the organization, which was incorporated in 2012, contends it is exempt from even filing a tax return because of its funding sources and its affiliation with the National Conference of Bishops, the return states that it chose to do so voluntarily.
"However, since the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit occurred in the Fall of 2015, WMOF (World Meeting of Families) is voluntarily submitting a form 990 (nonprofit tax return) for the year ending June 30, 2015 to document these celebratory events," the filing states.
According to the return the $25.6 million came from over 130 individual contributions, five of them of $1 million or more.
The return also states that over half of its financial support comes from "internal church sources as opposed to the public."
The return lists total expenses as of June 30 of just under $8.5 million but few details of the expenditures were included.
The top paid staffer was executive director Donna Farrell who drew salary and benefits of $175,648 while Senior Director of Events Jack O'Brien had salary and benefits totaling $168,364.
The next highest paid staffer was Thomas Duggan with $99,142 in salary and $15,767 in additional benefits.
Overall the return lists salaries totaling $1.5 million with "other expenses" reaching just shy of $8.5 million. It lists $3.8 million in liabilities.
Some city officials expressed surprise when they learned late last year that taxpayers would have to chip in some $8 million of a $17 million total cost for city expenses related to the world meeting.
Though it was not listed on the return, the World Meeting was committed to providing some $8.6 million to reimburse the city for expenses, such as police overtime.
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Nashville Symphony Trims Annual Deficit

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The Nashville Symphony Orchestra upped its contributions and program service revenue but still ended fiscal 2015 with a deficit of nearly $3.4 million.
The financial data for the orchestra which  faced imminent foreclosure on its concert hall just three years ago, was spelled out in a tax return for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2015.
According to the tax return, known as a 990, total revenue climbed to $21.9 million compared to $19.2 million the year before. The $3.4 million year end deficit was down from a $5.2 million deficit in the prior year and $13.2 million the year before that.
Expenses for 2015 were just shy of $25.4 million, compared to $24.4 million in the prior year.
President and CEO Alan Valentine had total salary and benefits totaling $339,436, while music director Giancarlo Guererro's totaled $415,739.
For Valentine that represented a slight drop from the $349,480 reported the prior year. Guererro's total also dropped from the 2014 total of $427,587.
Concert Master Jun Iwasaki also had a decrease with salary and benefits totaling $173,840 compared to $188,000 for 2014.
Chad Boyd, CFO and interim COO was paid salary and benefits totaling $169,226.
Though the names were not made public, the tax return shows contributions from one donor of a little over $3 million and $1 million from a second donor.
Major contractors listed include William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, which was paid $403,850, IMG Artists, LLC, which was paid $262,600 and Guardsmark, a security firm, which was paid $206,144.
Also listed on the return was the $21.9 million balance on the mortgage on the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The mortgage is from Symplace Realty, an entity established by board member Martha Ingram.
It was Ingram's intervention that literally rescued the concert hall from a scheduled mortgage foreclosure auction in 2013.
The financial problems were triggered in part by the 2010 Nashville flood. The concert hall was badly damaged and, according to the orchestra's financial statements, some $2.4 million in anticipated federal assistance has yet to be received.
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Saint Thomas CEO Top Earner

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The former CEO at Nashville's Saint Thomas health care companies drew the largest salary for the second year in a row, according to tax returns for the organizations.
The tax return, known as a 990, showed Michael Schatzlein, drew salary, bonuses and other benefits totaling just under $2 million. He also drew a supplemental retirement payment valued at $179,379.
Schatzlein moved on to an executive post at Saint Thomas' parent company, Ascension Health, in July of last year.
Schatzlein's successor, Karen Springer, drew pay and benefits totaling $588,581 in the year before her promotion.
In the prior fiscal year Schatzlein earned salary, benefits and bonuses totaling just over $2 million.
The tax return covers the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014.
Other top earners at Saint Thomas include physicians James Baker 2nd, Joseph Boyd and Vafa Mansouri, all of whom collected salaries and benefits for more than $1 million.
Former executive vice president Wesley Littrell was paid $570,266, including a $480,256 severance payment. He also got $71,292 in supplemental retirement payments.
Former executive vice president Alan Strauss collected $745,241 in salary and benefits plus $8,236 in supplemental retirement.
Others topping $1 million in salary and benefits, according to the return, were physicians Mark Koenig and Stephen Fahrig.
The returns show revenue for the fiscal year dropped from $462.3 million to $434 million at Saint Thomas West and from $421.2 million to $407.8 million at Saint Thomas Midtown.
Revenues at Saint Thomas Rutherford were $249 million, down from $252  million the year before.

Nashville Symphony Revenues, Expenses Drop

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Recently filed tax returns for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra show that both its revenues and expenses dropped in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2014.
The return, known as a 990, also shows that while the orchestra continued to rebound from near bankruptcy, it still ended the year with a $5.1 million loss. Nonetheless that was down substantially from the $13.2 million loss recorded in the prior year.
The return also lists contributions from local supporters including Martha Ingram, who donated $1 million.
It was Ingram, a former board chairman, who rescued the orchestra from having its famed Schermerhorn Symphony Center auctioned off in a foreclosure proceeding just two years ago.
The filing shows Ingram is still owed $22.5 million on a mortgage she gave to the orchestra as part of the 2013 bailout.
Other donors listed on the return include Richard Miller of Nashville who gave $250,000 and Joseph Seabury 3rd who donated $500,000
Corporate donors included First Bank of Nashville with $375,00 and Nissan North America with $200,000. The Care Foundation of America in Brentwood donated $750,000.
Revenues for the fiscal year were listed at $19.2 million compared to $21.1 million the prior year.  Expenses totaled $24.4 million, down by just shy of $10 million from the prior year.
Assets at the end of the year were listed at $120.7 million, down from $128.2 million the year before.
Orchestra leader Giancarlo Guererro was the top money earner with salary and benefits totaling $427,587. President Alan D. Valentine had $349,480 in salary and benefits. Concert master Jun Iwasaki earned a little over $188,000 in salary and benefits.
Guererro  and Valentine had taken 15 percent pay cuts during the financial crisis. The union representing musicians agreed to the same percentage cut in subsequent negotiations.
Payments to outside contractors included $561,911 to Frost, Brown and Todd of Louisville and $323,198 to FTI Consulting of Massachusetts. Third highest was Chicago Touring which was paid $224,000.
The orchestra paid $142,641 to Kraft CPA. Symphony Treasurer Kevin Crumbo is a partner in Kraft as is Myles McDonald, who served as interim chief operations officer.
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