Executives at TARP bank get double-digit pay increases

BCSB Bancorp Inc., which got $10.8 million in public money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, paid its chief executive 25.9 percent more in salary and bonus last year.

The company said in the proxy statement for its annual shareholders' meeting on Feb. 10 that Joseph J. Bouffard got $229,474 in salary and a $40,000 bonus for 2009. That compares with $214,091 in cash compensation in 2008.

Restricted stock awards and options boosted Bouffard's total compensation last year to $331,789, an increase of 17.7 percent.

BCSB operates Baltimore County Savings Bank in Maryland. The proxy statement outlines the agenda for the annual meeting, and includes such information as the stock ownership of officers, directors and other key shareholders, the backgrounds and roles of the board members, and the particulars of executive compensation.

Anthony R. Cole, BCSB's executive vice president and chief financial officer, was the second highest paid officer in 2009. He received $164,624 in salary - up $14,556 from 2008 - and got a $37,500 bonus.

Cole's cash compensation for 2009 rose 34.7 percent from the previous year, when none of the company's executives got bonuses. His increase was the largest, both in percentage and real dollars.

David M. Meadows, the company's executive vice president and general counsel, saw his pay decline last year. Meadows received $178,881 in salary, down from $203,093 in 2008.  Despite the bestowal of a $21,200 bonus, his total cash compensation for the year fell 1.5 percent.

BCSB  posted a $1.95 million loss for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 31, in part because of higher provisions for loan losses. The company had a profit of $894,000 in its previous fiscal year.

Bancorp showed modest gains in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, with reported net income of $670,000 (adjusted to $514,000 to common stockholders after such obligations as TARP dividends were paid).

Bouffard said in a press release that he was encouraged by the company's operating results, and noted that the company remains "very well capitalized."

BCSB has also entered into a definitive agreement to sell four of its branches, in the city of Baltimore and in Baltimore and Howard Counties, to Amerian Bank.  Bouffard said the deal would further improve the company's efficiency, profitability and capital position.

BCSB received its TARP money in December 2008. It has been keeping up with its dividend obligations to the government, but it has yet to repurchase any of the preferred stock it issued as part of its participation in the program.