LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Four former executives at the embattled University of Louisville Foundation led the nation in pay to public university foundation employees in 2014, leaving them potentially liable for IRS penalties.
A Courier-Journal review of nearly 1,600 officers and employees of 1,146 foundations in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, found ousted University of Louisville Foundation President James Ramsey to have been the highest-paid, drawing a salary of $2.4 million. Three other then-officials – Donald Miller, Shirley Willihnganz and Kathleen Smith – filled the next three spots.
Their salaries could subject them to IRS sanctions under a federal law that sanctions levying higher taxes on nonprofit executives who receive “unreasonable” pay and the managers who approve it. Current foundation managers say they haven’t received any IRS inquiries.
