The system is Charlotte-Mecklenburg's biggest employer, with more than 20,000 people working locally and 35,000 across its 20-hospital system. But documents Eyewitness News obtained show CHS is also paying some of the region's biggest salaries to its top executives.

  None is getting more attention than the $3.5 million paid last year to CHS Chief Executive Mike Tarwater.

PDF: Tarwater Compensation Breakdown

“Sounds like it's too much. It really does in this day and age,” said Charlotte resident Jean Seidle. “I wish they'd be a little more sensitive to what's going on.”

A number of people contacted Eyewitness News on Wednesday to express frustration at not only the multi-million-dollar pay package for Tarwater, but also the million-dollar salaries paid to five of his top deputies.

CHS board members insist that compensation is inline with what other executives in similar companies are paid across the country, but Carolinas Healthcare is a public, not-for-profit hospital system that has no shareholders, and there is little the community can do to hold it accountable.

Nell Minow, whose Washington, D.C., based-think tank The Corporate Library examines executive pay, said the real issue is the negative perception generated by the salaries.

“It's a little bit of the worst of both worlds. You have the pay levels of a public company, but you don’t have the ability to do something about it,” Minow said.

Tarwater's pay package may be in line with other healthcare executives, but it dwarfs salaries paid to Charlotte's other public executives. City Manager Curt Walton makes $200,000, County Manager Harry Jones earns $300,000 and school Superintendent Peter Gorman, who has 19,000 employees, earns roughly $285,000 a year.

But CHS Board Chairman Jim Hynes said that’s not a fair comparison. He said CHS would lose top executives if it started paying significantly less.

“It's critical to the organization that we are led in the proper manner. I would suggest to you that doing otherwise would threaten the organization,” he said.

CHS uses a consultant to survey the salaries of other executives in hospital groups of similar size. CHS gave Eyewitness News a chart comparing its CEO to six others, and they said Tarwater is on the low end of those numbers.

Eyewitness News also checked with Novant, the private, not-for-profit company that runs Presbyterian Hospital. Novant’s president CEO makes about $2 million annually.

County Gives Millions To CHS For Indigent Care

Many residents said the million-dollar salaries rub them the wrong way for another reason.

Mecklenburg County gave Carolinas Healthcare System more than $20 million of the county’s tax dollars for indigent care last year. So Eyewitness News asked county commissioners if they'll take a closer look at who gets what.

Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Roberts said the commission will probably review how the county money is divvied up, but she didn't say whether things would change.

"Where you draw the line on where the payments (are) going, how much the county contributes, that will be discussed. But I feel like we're getting a good quality system," she said.

After all, the county lists health care as a top priority, and giving up money could mean giving up control.

Still, some taxpayers hope commissioners spend less on CHS and give the money to other groups.

Charlotte resident Kevin McSwain said, "There's a lot of things they can use it for. For one thing, they could use it toward the schools."

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is bracing itself for major cuts, but Gorman said he wouldn’t want to help CMS at CHS’s expense.

"I happen to know (Tarwater), and he's been a strong supporter and advocate of the schools, and (CHS) helps us out with a number of programs and we want to keep them as advocates and supporters," Gorman said.

Source: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/18481273/detail.html#-

Video: Residents, Financial Expert Question High Executive Salaries 

Video: County Gives Millions to CHS For Indigent Care 

Video: Documents Reveal Massive Salaries Of CHS Execs 

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