To
Miami is a private school. A politician sticking his nose anywhere like this is ironic, as they’re all paid off by Pharma, Tech and oil companies. On top of insider trading and all their other sleazy behaviors. This is the definition of rich.
To be fair, it has nothing to do with being a private school - it has everything to do with being a 501c3 as recognized by the IRS (which most states then follow suit).
But the point remains the same - this is a guy looking to grab a headline, probably at the request of some disgruntled donor/fan.
I’m not an expert on 501c3 law, but if all other salaries at UM are in line with the rest of the market, and so is Mario’s, then there is nothing to see here.
To clarify why: the premise is a 501c3 is an entity that is exempt from paying most taxes (income, real estate, etc). If you don’t meet all the statutory requirements, you lose your tax exempt status. Those requirements include paying fair value for everything. In this case, that means Mario’s salary. The non-profit status must be for a public use, and must directly serve the interest of the non-profit.
For example, in my hometown, there is a fight over a local university that owns a bunch of land that they are not currently using for educational purposes, yet they still have tax exempt status and aren’t paying real estate taxes on that land. The county is taking them to court, because only land that is being used for the charitable purpose is exempt from tax.
The limits on salary, in particular, are meant to stop abuse - paying tax-exempt huge salaries for doing nothing except taking donations and giving them to the directors.
Sorry if jumbled, typing from my phone.