From double-dipping to triple-dipping at AHS
Edmonton – Official Opposition Health critic Kevin Taft says that huge bonuses are just the beginning for some well-paid AHS executives, at least five of whom are also being paid tens of thousands of dollars in premiums every year.
It’s the frosting on the already rich cake of huge salaries and bonuses cooked up by the Stelmach Conservatives.
“Double-dipping is bad enough,” says Taft. “Triple-dipping is an abuse of the public trust.”
Yesterday the Alberta Liberals exposed the huge bonuses being doled out to AHS executives. Now Taft is revealing that at least five AHS executives were paid premiums between $25,480 and $79,200, in addition to those huge bonuses and their already generous salaries.
As if huge salaries, bonuses and premiums aren’t enough, some executives also qualify for special pensions called Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs) that are fully funded by the government. Unlike normal pensions, which require employees to contribute to their own retirement, these AHS executives get generous pensions without contributing a dime of their own money.
“The Stelmach administration needs to make the full details of these SERPs public,” says Taft. “Consider the case of former Calgary Health Region CEO Jack Davis, who is receiving a gold-plated $22,000 per month pension fully funded by taxpayers. Most Albertans have to sacrifice large portions of their paycheques to build a retirement fund. The retirement funds of these AHS executives are 100 percent taken care of by Joe and Jane Taxpayer.”
Yesterday, the Premier and the Minister of Health claimed that AHS executive contracts are being reviewed. But a letter from AHS CEO Stephen Duckett from just ten months ago says that AHS has just completed a pay review, conducted by consulting firm Towers Perrin. The documents seem to indicate that at least some of the current payments, including the bonuses, premiums and special pension provisions were based on that review.
“Were the Premier and the Health Minister talking about the same review as Dr. Duckett, or is the pay system getting overhauled yet again only a few months after the last review?” Taft asks. “This is the kind of confusion that is bringing the management of AHS to its knees and spreading so much chaos throughout the health system.”
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Attached: AHS premium letters, Calgary Health Region SERP summary
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