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STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / SEPT. 2013
UH Regent committee members toured UH-Manoa facilities before discussing plans to eliminate UH's deferred maintenance backlog. Regent Barry Mizuno (light green aloha shirt), left, Cynthia Quinn (exec administrator and secretary of the Board of Regents), Regent Jan Sullivan, Howard Todo (VP Budget and Finance) and Steve Meder in blue.
A former top budget official at the University of Hawaii is still on the school’s payroll nine months after he was replaced, allowing him to qualify for some retirement benefits.
Howard Todo earned an annual salary of $279,000 a year and had been the university’s vice president for budget and finance since 2005, but he was replaced in January, reported Hawaii News Now.
He has remained on the UH payroll since then. UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl says Todo has been working half-time in a new position as an administrative program officer. Allowing him to stay on through next month will let him reach 10 years of service and collect retirement benefits.
He had already qualified for about $55,000 a year in pension before taking the new position, and now he’ll also be able to receive half his retirement health benefits covered for life.
State Sen. Donna Kim has criticized the arrangement, saying taxpayers shouldn’t be saddled with Todo’s retirement.
“When they try to get rid of these people, then they try to give them a golden parachute and allow them to retire,” said Kim, who said top officials at UH have told her about Todo’s situation. “Not only are they paid a high salary, but now the state of Hawaii and the taxpayers have to pay for these people’s retirement for the rest of their lives.”
According to Kim, officials asked Todo to leave quietly and let him stay on the payroll as an exchange.
But Meisenzahl says Todo was never asked to step down.
“I think people should realize that Howard Todo could have easily stayed here, hit his 10-year mark, and given us two weeks’ notice and left,” he said.
Instead, Todo sent a letter explaining his intention to retire to UH President David Lassner in July 2014. He told the president he intended to stay until October 31, 2015.
“He was never in a position where he was about to get fired. He was never in a position where he’s going to be asked to leave, but he knew that that day was coming and knew how long it took to fill the position that he’s in,” Meisenzahl said.
In the letter, Todo offered to serve in “another executive or managerial position” if the university found a new budget executive before October 31. The notice gave the university more than a year to recruit someone new, explained Meisenzahl.
“In a lot of ways, I think it’s unfair that here he is trying to do the right thing but people see something mischievous about it,” Meisenzahl said.
