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USF Pays Car Allowances Amid Cutbacks

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Some top administrators at USF are paid car allowances in addition to their salaries. Jennifer Capeheart Meningall, vice president for student affairs, receives $650 per month. College of Medicine Dean Stephen Klasko, who makes $1.17 million, receives $650 a month. And Jose Fernandez, women's basketball coach, receives $450 per month.

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By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

TAMPA - Amid staff cuts and a hiring freeze, University of South Florida is paying car allowances of at least $450 a month to more than a dozen employees.

Six of the allowances go to administrators. The rest go to coaches, including head football coach Jim Leavitt, who receives $450 a month plus the use of a dealership car.

Including Leavitt, 10 coaches receive $450 a month. The others have dealership cars.

The coaches with allowances are paid from athletic department money, which comes mostly from television contracts, student fees and ticket prices. Four of the six administrators are paid with state tax money. The purpose of the allowance is to cover personal vehicle expenses.

At the University of Florida the president and vice presidents receive car allowances of $7,800 per year, but most of the money comes from the UF private foundation and other auxiliary sources.

UF coaches get the use of dealership cars but no allowances. "No money changes hands," said UF spokesman Steve Orlando.

The USF Foundation, supported with private donations, pays car allowances for 13 people, including Provost Ralph Wilcox and several officials responsible for university fundraising.

The foundation doesn't pay for a car allowance for USF President Judy Genshaft, but it does cover the $147-a-month cost of her Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club membership. The foundation also pays for several other administrators' country club memberships. USF spokesman Michael Hoad said these are important for fundraising.

The university, including the athletic department, pays a total of about $100,000 for the 16 car allowances to coaches and administrators.

"It's not a huge amount of money, but it's the appearance of it," said USF faculty union president Sherman Dorn.

A few years ago, before USF cut $52 million from its budget and eliminated 450 staff and instructor positions, news of car allowances wouldn't have captured much attention, he said. "But at this time, when the university is telling faculty to do more with less support, it sends the wrong signal."

The other problem is that the money is going to coaches and administrators, not faculty. "The university is behaving as if perks are more important than professors," Dorn said.

Bill McClelland, head of the USF staff union, said the university has adopted the corporate model of operation.

"Often that is no more than adopting the model of excessive executive compensation, bonuses, and perks. The public is rightly angered by this in the private sector and should be no less tolerant in seeing that in our public institutions," he said. "How many taxpayers earn a car allowance?"

Car allowances can be part of a recruitment package or a way to reimburse employees who use their cars for university business. "It's a way to attract people," said USF spokesman Hoad. "There are people who legitimately do a lot of driving for their jobs."

One of the highest paid USF employees, USF College of Medicine Dean Stephen Klasko, receives a $650 per month allowance. It is not paid with tax money but with USF medical service contracts and patient fees. Klasko earns about $1.17 million per year, including his physician's pay.

Other car allowance recipients are Jennifer Capeheart Meningall, vice president for student affairs, who receives $650 per month; Arthur Guilford, chief executive officer and vice president of USF Sarasota-Manatee, who receives $650 per month; Kathy Betancourt, associate vice president for governmental relations, who receives $550 per month and Karen White, who receives $650 per month.

White stepped down as the USF St. Petersburg chancellor last year to become a special adviser to Genshaft.

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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