CW Employee Pay Reductions Only Temporary

By Desiree Parker Sunday, November 27, 2011

The pay cuts to Colonial Williamsburg administrators enacted two years ago were limited to a year, after which their pay was restored.

The sluggish economy led CW President Colin Campbell to announce in 2009 that he would cut his salary by 10 percent and other administrative employees’ salaries by five percent. At the time, Campbell also announced furloughs for other salaried employees, bring their take-home pay down 2.5 percent; months earlier, CW said it planned to cut 140 positions and also keep an additional 140 vacant positions open.

Administrators’ pay reduction ran from April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010, according to CW spokesman Tom Shrout, after which pay was restored and furloughs ended. There were no general salary or wage rate increases for employees of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 2009 or 2010, he noted.

According to the Foundation’s 2010 tax forms available this month, between 2008 and 2009, the number of people employed dropped by 250. Between 2009 and 2010, that number dropped another 60. Overall, Foundation revenues less expenses dropped about $15 million (note: CW’s nonprofit side, the Foundation, is separate from its for-profit side. The for-profit records aren’t available for public consumption).

Though salaries, other compensation and benefits for employees overall dropped $3.68 million in 2010, the salaries, compensation and benefits of the 16 highest-paid employees increased slightly, by $226,147 total, due to the pay decrease ending and one retiring employee who received additional compensation. Katharine Whitehead, who retired in 2011 after many years of service, received approximately $140,000 in “other compensation” in 2010, bringing her salary and all other compensation and benefits to $422,484.

The 16 top-paid employees earned a total of $4.42 million in 2010.

In 2009, these employees’ earnings comprised roughly 6.8 percent of all employee earnings that year. In 2010, their earnings were 7.6 percent.

Campbell’s base salary in 2008 was $601,025; including other compensation, nontaxable benefits, and other compensation he earned $733,990. In 2009, his pay dipped to $567,146 ($687,508 with all the perks), and in 2010 it was $583,603 ($715,174 with perks).

CW’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Robert Taylor, the second-highest paid employee behind Campbell, earned a base salary of $304,001 and a combined total with perks of $440,027.