5/02/03

At ServiceNet

Just Like in Corporate America,
Those at the Top Get Big Bucks

---

Editor’s note: ServiceNet, which began in 1965 as the Hampshire Association for Mental Health, is now the largest social-service in Western Massachusetts operating throughout Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties and in the North Quabbin area of Worcester County.

ServiceNet has revenues and expenditures of nearly $20 million and has some 500 workers, many of whom are organized, including more than 200 members of the United Auto Workers union.

The following is reprinted, by permission, from the March, 2003, issue of Bulletin Board, a publication of ServiceNet workers, UAW, Local 2322.


Even in these very difficult financial times, ServiceNet managers continue to get pay increases.

Those in upper management received raises totaling $20,257 for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2002 despite the fact that government revenue to the agency dropped $748,000 from the previous fiscal year. Also, non-union employees will soon be receiving a 2 percent raise in 2003.

The salary of Susan Stubbs, chief executive officer, rose 5.9 percent from $94,500 to $100,093. Bruce Barshefsky, director of administration and finance, saw a salary increase of 5.3 percent from $67,000 to $70,562. Linda Vacon, director of health services, was raised 3.4 percent from $69,000 to $70,302.

The salary of James Frutkin, director of clinical services, was raised by $8,800, from $67,000 to $75,800 - a 13 percent hike.

[The salary for a fifth senior manager, Dr. David Kraft, medical director, was $107,517 - for a 32-hour week - in fiscal 2002. For some reason, his name does not appear in SNET’s 990 report for 2001. In the report for 2000, his salary was $107,549.]

The IRS requires SNET, because it is a non-profit organization, to release its tax return (Form 990) to the public every February. These returns include a partial list of upper management salaries, raises and a list of how many employees make over $50,000.

According to the tax document, SNET also listed an increase in the number of management staff making over $50,000. In fiscal year 2001, SNET listed six employees as making a salary in excess of $50,000, while in fiscal year 2002, it listed 16 employees in this category.

At the same time, according to the report, the agency’s expenses were $1.6 million higher than they were in the previous fiscal year and the agency’s surplus fell by a third - from $300,554 to $191,881.

The Bulletin Board has also learned that non-union staff have been informed that they will soon be receiving 2 percent raises in 2003.

Barring unusual circumstances, SNET’s board of directors grant managers’ pay increases. Directors’ meetings are not usually open to the public, even though the directors oversee a budget that includes millions of tax dollars - in fiscal year 2002 SNET received $13,973,744 from government contracts and fees.

Top management took pay cuts for the fiscal year 2002, which was likely a response to the fact government contracts and fees had dropped substantially the previous year, just as they have this year.

That pay cut lasted one year. After they received their raises for fiscal 2002, several members of management were at a higher salary than in fiscal 2000.

The union will begin negotiating a new contract with SNET in October 2003 for direct care staff. We strongly believe that direct care staff deserve significant raises. Most of us have had a pay freeze for two years. If SNET can find the money to give its management raises, then it should be committed to giving raises to its hard-working staff who earn far less and make SNET a highly successful agency.