Waste of the Day: 9/11 Memorial Salaries Approach $1 Million

Topline: The nonprofit running New York’s 9/11 memorial operated at a loss of $19 million in 2024 and had to use $4.5 million of public funds to stay afloat. But that didn’t stop the group from paying more than $850,000 to its top executive, according to the New York Post.

9/11 Memorial and Museum limping along on government grants while paying high salaries

Key facts: The nonprofit is officially registered as the National September 11 Memorial And Museum At The World Trade Center and opened in 2011 at the former site of the Twin Towers.

The nonprofit received $4 million from the National Park Service for “the continued operation, maintenance and security of the memorial and museum,” but it may have been able to afford those costs with less taxpayer support if its employees were not earning such high salaries.

President and CEO Elizabeth Hillman made $856,216 in salary, deferred compensation and other benefits, far more than the previous CEO Alice Greenwald’s compensation of $502,999.

Advancement and Communications Officer Joshua Cherwin made $486,298, General Counsel Noelle Lilien made $451,880, CFO David Sheehan made $432,958, and two others made more than $400,000. An additional seven employees made between $200,000 and $343,000.

The New York Post first reported some of the high salaries, and OpenTheBooks’ auditors verified them using the nonprofit’s 990 tax form.

The 9/11 nonprofit also accepted $500,000 of funding from New York State and a small amount from New York City.

Even with the taxpayer assistance, visits to the memorial are not cheap and brought in $69 million in revenue last year. Adult admission to the museum costs $36, and a tour of the museum and memorial costs $85.

Paying bonuses while losing money

The museum pays $7 million in rent to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a local transit agency, but does not pay for security services from Port Authority or the New York Police Department; rather, it pays a private security company, according to the New York Post.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Background: The New York Post previously reported that the 9/11 memorial museum gave $1,000 bonuses to its 12 top-paid executives in 2020, even though the nonprofit lost $47 million that year and had to lay off or furlough 60% of its staff.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is chairman of the nonprofit’s board. Other trustees include celebrities such as Robert DeNiro, Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart.

Critical quote:  Jim McCaffrey, a retired New York firefighter who lost his brother-in-law on 9/11, asked the New York Post,

How can you justify these salaries? It’s just another slap in the face of the families, more pain and grief to add to the heartache.

Summary: There are countless ways to honor the memory of 9/11 victims that would be an excellent use of taxpayer funds. Paying high salaries to a group of executives is not one of them.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com. 

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Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.