Nonprofit salary wasn’t logged
Health commissioner’s omission on forms called inadvertent
State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker repeatedly failed to disclose a salary he receives from a nonprofit corporation that helps administer agency programs.
For the past three years, the commissioner’s financial disclosure statements, filed with the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, did not reflect his role as president of Health Research Inc., which paid him an annual salary of $61,000.
A spokesman for the state Health Department called it an “inadvertent omission.”
In July, as part of what the department termed a “review process,” Zucker amended the filings to include his wages and function with the independent organization. The agency would not explain what prompted the review.
The amended filings indicate he earned up to $225,000 over his initial three years as president.
The maximum statutorily allowed salary for the health commissioner, now set at $136,000 per year, has been augmented for decades by income from HRI, a quasi-state agency located in Menands, to help attract qualified candidates to the post. Zucker’s salary from HRI, which gets a majority of its revenue from government grants, doesn’t come from state taxpayer funds, according to DOH.
While it’s generally expected that the health commissioner will serve as HRI president, the group’s bylaws task the board of directors with filling the post and determining the compensation for any officers — although the only officers to get paid are the president and executive director. The HRI board, based on the organization’s website, includes nine people in addition to Zucker; three of those individuals work for him at DOH.
Zucker’s role as president of HRI includes monthly meetings in the evenings that occur “as needed.” HRI’S most recent available tax form states that the post requires two hours a week of Zucker’s labor, though the department estimated he puts in more time.
Like anyone who files a JCOPE disclosure form, Zucker is required to disclose any compensated board positions with “any firm, corporation, association, partnership, or other organization other than the state of New York.” A public official can face civil penalties and misdemeanor criminal charges for willfully filing a false disclosure statement with JCOPE.
The DOH explained that Zucker didn’t initially disclose the income from HRI because he viewed his work there as part of his commissioner duties.
Zucker has never concealed his role with HRI: DOH spokesman Gary Holmes noted he has spoken publicly “with pride” about the job.
Based on HRI’S tax form for the fiscal year ending in March 2018, in addition to $62,689 in wages, Zucker collected $8,651 in additional compensation from “the organization and related organizations.” HRI said the annual compensation for the post is now $65,026.
In Dr. Nirav R. Shah’s last full year as health commissioner, HRI paid him $63,346 and $12,606 in additional compensation, according to the group’s tax filings.
No compensation was paid to the HRI president in 2011 and 2012 or during the period after Shah resigned and Zucker was confirmed to the post by the state Senate, according to HRI.
By state law, the health commissioner is required to be a physician with at least 10 years of relevant experience and a background in public health.
“Under executive law, the health commissioner’s salary is set at $136,000 — which, by common acknowledgement, is too low to attract a commissioner meeting the Public Health Law qualification, unless he or she is independently wealthy or willing to sacrifice income for public service,” said E.J. Mcmahon, research director for the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy.
“Thus, using HRI as an added income stream is the state’s way of trying to get around this limit. Whether it’s proper or appropriate is another question,” Mcmahon said. “In today’s world, commissioners’ salaries should be higher, but they’ve been held hostage to gridlock over the salaries of state elected officials.”
This is a recurring burden for governors looking for a health commissioner.
In 1992, when Gov. Mario Cuomo was trying to fill the top job at DOH, he augmented the post’s $98,399 salary with $62,601 in wages from HRI. At the time, Dr. Mark Chassin said
he wouldn’t accept the commissioner job for less than $160,000.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has also lamented the salaries paid to his agency heads, arguing that they aren’t comparable to what is available in the private sector.
“We’re trying to get quality people into state government, and frankly we are wholly non-competitive,” he said in March.
In some cases, the administration has circumvented statutory pay rates by letting commissioners serve in an acting capacity.
For example, Kerry Delaney was elevated from executive deputy commissioner for the state’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to the top post in the summer of 2014, and has continued to serve in an acting capacity. While the commissioner post is set at $136,000, Delaney collected $166,821 in 2017, according to Seethroughny.