Panel recommends nearly doubling salaries of trustees
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
A court-appointed panel has recommended nearly doubling the salary of the Kamehameha Schools' trustees and raising the pay of its chairperson by almost three-quarters.
The report of the three-member Trustee Compensation Committee for the schools was filed Dec. 22 with the state Probate Court. The court will take up the recommendation on trustee pay, one of the most controversial issues dogging the charitable trust in recent years, on Jan. 23.
If the court approves the panel's recommendation, the annual salary for each trustee would increase from $97,500 to $180,000. The chairman would be paid $207,000, up from $120,000 a year.
It would be the first raise for trustees since the reorganization of the $4.3 billion trust in 1999. Before that, trustee pay was based on a percentage of the estate's gross receipts. For the fiscal year ending June 1998, the five trustees each received more than $1 million.
Constance Lau is the board's chairwoman. Other trustees are J. Douglas Ing, Robert Kihune, Diane Plotts and Nainoa Thompson.
Kamehameha spokesman Kekoa Paulsen said the trustees have decided to not comment on the recommendation until the court makes the final decision.
Hugh Jones, the deputy state attorney general who has monitored the overhaul of the trust in the past seven years, said a response to the report is under review and that objections are "possible."
In May 1999, Probate Judge Kevin Chang appointed the compensation committee, chairman Michael Rawlins and members Colbert Matsumoto and Allen Hoe. The panel's recommendation is based in part on the advice of Martin L. Katz, an executive compensation consultant with Mercer Human Resources Consulting.
According to the panel's report, Katz surveyed national data and interviewed the trustees and staff with the state attorney general's office before submitting his report in November. The panel decided that the compensation should be a "service-based" retainer fee, without regard to the number of meetings the trustees attend.
However, Jones said the state had received preliminary reports from the panel and decided to commission its own salary study based on the Guidestar.org database of charitable organizations.
Jones said the Guidestar report indicated the national average for compensation to boards on public charities is $6,190.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
