$100k salary for incoming WASA CEO…plus perks

AMIDST ongoing public jitters over the possibility of an increase in water rates, cash-strapped and heavily subsidised public utility the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is set to offer its incoming chief executive officer Keithroy Halliday a whopping base salary of $100,000 plus other perks.

This was revealed on November 15 by WASA’s line minister Marvin Gonzales during his response to a question asked by Princes Town MP Barry Padarath during the sitting of the House of Representatives.

The question, for oral answer was: What is the remuneration package offered to Dr Keithroy Halliday, WASA’s CEO-designate?

In giving context to his answer, Gonzales, the Public Utilities Minister, said since the CEO is required to lead transformation of the authority, “which is a significant undertaking,” and in order to attract and retain a high-calibre and highly-competent incumbent in the hyper-competitive job market for such a task, a competitive salary and benefit package including performance-based incentives were crucial.

So what exactly is the package? The minister gave a breakdown of Halliday’s compensation:

• A salary of $100,000
• $8,000 a month housing allowance
• A company-maintained vehicle worth not in excess of $400,000 (VAT exclusive) for Halliday’s business and personal use during the duration of his contract
• $2,300 a month reimbursement for entertainment expenses incurred in the conduct of business-related activities.
• $1,000 a month telephone allowance
• Eligible to register to WASA medical insurance plan
• A gratuity of 20 per cent of Halliday’s gross salary earned over the period of employment, payable on satisfactory completion of the terms of engagement. The gratuity will be subjected to tax deductions.
• An annual bonus payable on attainment of 100 per cent of performance targets – with said bonus being six months salary for the first year, and four months salary for years two and three of the contract period.

Gonzales then said in order for Halliday to access the bonus, he had to meet 100 per cent of the performance-incentive targets which include full water coverage across all districts; improvement in water coverage to all unserved and underserved communities; operational cost coverage;

Compliance with Cabinet instructions re WASA’s management restructuring; organisational process re-engineering; implementation of new performance management systems; reduction of all unsafe conditions; an increase in customer satisfaction rating and; reduction in non-revenue water.

Gonzales said the terms of the compensation were informed by a job-evaluation exercise conducted by an external specialist human resource firm – at State expense – commissioned by WASA’s board of commissioners. The terms were approved by a human resources sub-committee of Cabinet and the WASA board of commissioners. CEO Halliday will be paid in TT dollars.

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