DIA Directors Dug Into Their Own Pockets to Repay Executive Bonuses

Directors of the Detroit Institute of Arts dug into their own pockets to repay $90,000 in controversial bonuses granted to top executives after money began flowing into from a voter-approved tax to support the world-class museum in 2012.

“To take it back would be a double insult to them,” DIA Board Chairman Eugene Gargaro told a reporter, according to the Detroit Free Press.

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.

Gargaro made the comments after a Thursday meeting of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners.

Related:

• Politicians Fuming Over DIA Chiefs’ Double-Digit Pay Hikes
• Some Oakland Commissioners Give DIA Ultimatum Over Bonuses
• DIA Agrees to Pay Back $90K in 2012 Bonuses

Commissioners had opposed the bonuses, but said the DIA is moving in the right direction with the decision to provide reimbursement and other plans regarding compensation. Future bonuses will not come from a 10-year millage pproved by voters in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties – $23 million last year – but from a separate fund endowed by donors.

“These types of bonuses don’t fly in Macomb County,” Commissioner Don Brown, R-Washington Township, said. But he acknowledged the DIA directors have taken steps to “restore the faith.”

Earlier, some Oakland County commissioners threatened to dismantle the Oakland County Arts Authority, which collects $11 million in taxes to support the museum’s operating budget.

Peace has been restored with Oakland County officials as well.

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.”

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Photo via Wikimedia Creative Commons