DIA Agrees to Repay $90K in 2012 Bonuses to Execs

Peace may have been restored between the Detroit Institute of the Arts and the suburban counties that support the museum’s operating budget with taxes approved by voters in 2012.

The museum’s board of directors said in a memo to suburban leaders it has paid back $90,000 in bonuses paid to the top three executives in 2013, The Detroit News reports.

The 2012 bonuses included $50,000 to DIA director Graham Beal, $30,000 to chief operating officer Annmarie Erickson and $10,000 to chief financial officer Robert Bowen, and were paid the same year tax money began flowing into the DIA coffers.

In the memo written by DIA board chairman Eugene Gargaro and obtained by The Detroit News, museum directors apologized for “mistakes which we regret,” but said there was no wrongdoing.

Related:

• Politicians Fuming Over DIA Chiefs’ Double-Digit Pay Hikes
• Some Oakland Commissioners Give DIA Ultimatum Over Bonuses

The newspaper said Gargaro didn’t mention the bonuses of $100,000 paid in 2012 that riled some Oakland County officials to the point that they threatened to dismantle the Oakland County Arts Authority, which collects $11 million in taxes to support the museum’s operating budget. Similar entities exist in Macomb and Wayne counties and, together, the three counties contribute $23 million in taxes to the DIA.

County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who was formerly critical of the DIA, said he’s “satisfied they’ve learned a valuable public relations lesson and this mischief won’t continue.”

» Read the full story on The Detroit News.

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Photo via Wikimedia Creative Commons