With A CEO-Average Worker Pay Ratio Closing In On 20 . . .

As CEO salaries balloon, New Yorkers discover that the New York Public Library is not immune to this disturbing trend:

The library’s most recent federal tax filing shows that the total compensation for Paul LeClerc, the library’s president and chief executive, had increased to more than $800,000, a jump of more than $221,000 from just a year earlier.

. . .

In the world of charitable organizations and major public-private institutions, executive compensation has grown sizably in recent years. Those who defend the increased salaries contend that such costs are dictated by the marketplace for the most talented and expert people. Others, however, have complained that the often quite lucrative pay — while opaque to donors, large and small — has become excessive.

A survey of compensation for nonprofit executives that was featured in the September issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy showed that Dr. LeClerc’s salary of $464,170 was significantly less, for instance, than that of Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Lowry’s compensation for the same fiscal year, excluding benefits and expense allowances, was $875,301, according to the magazine.

But in the category of museums and libraries, Dr. LeClerc’s salary was considerably higher than what James Cuno, the director and president of the Art Institute of Chicago, took home that year. The survey reported that Mr. Cuno’s compensation was $323,531.

See also: “Starting Salaries” (Library Dust).