LAT: Executives draw huge salaries at L.A. nonprofit drug treatment center

[ellisonz]

Executives draw huge salaries at L.A. nonprofit drug treatment center

Experts say the massive pay and side profits earned by Tarzana Treatment Center's board and managers are 'anathema' to the mission of charitable organizations.

By Alan Zarembo
June 11, 2009

In an industrial zone a few blocks off the 101 Freeway, the Tarzana Treatment Center relies on government contracts and nonprofit tax status to serve drug addicts in poverty or trouble with the law.

A clerk sits behind protective glass in the lobby. Down a hallway in the detox wing, down-and-out men are curled on their cots. The coat hooks in the rooms flip down so patients can't hang themselves.

It hardly seems like the headquarters of a $45-million-a-year business.

Tarzana dwarfs most other nonprofits in the same line of work. By far the largest user of public funds for drug treatment in Los Angeles County, it draws 85% of its money from taxpayers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tarzana11-2009jun11,0,6661645.story?page=1