Scrutiny for Nassau HIV-AIDS group, chief

Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos Tuesday announced a probe of a taxpayer-funded HIV-AIDS group, contending that the agency's president earned more than $525,000 in 2009.

Maragos said Gail Barouh, president and chief executive of the Long Island Association for AIDS Care, received $363,205 from the organization in 2009. She also earned a total of $106,528 that year from BiasHELP, a not-for-profit focused on prevention of bias crimes, and $56,672 from the Long Island Network of Community Service, which helps nonprofits with fundraising and other functions, Maragos said.

"While the salary of this individual is not determined by the county it certainly raises a red flag. . . . We cannot allow CEOs of nonprofits to live lavishly off the charity of our taxpayers intended to help the sick and the needy," Maragos said in a statement.

Maragos said his office will begin an audit to determine the proportion of $220,000 in various Nassau contracts with LIAAC during 2010 that went to residents seeking service.

Katherine Heaviside, spokeswoman for Barouh, challenged Maragos' numbers. Heaviside said Barouh earned $244,000 plus $25,500 in health and pension benefits at LIAAC in 2009.

Heaviside said Barouh worked at BiasHELP, but she had no information on her earnings in the temporary job that year.

Heaviside said Barouh in 2009 also had a $56,000-a-year contract with LINCS, which owns its headquarters building in Hauppauge, where LIAAC and BiasHELP are based. Heaviside said the contract was to administer the building and LINCS health and pension plans. Barouh is listed on all three websites as the chief executive officer.

In a letter Tuesday responding to Maragos' news release, Garden City lawyer Debra Wabnik told Maragos and County Executive Edward Mangano to, among other things, stop giving "false information" on Barouh's compensation and to retract Maragos' news release.

Maragos said he gathered the data from the state attorney general's office. The figures include base salary and other compensation, which is not broken down, said Maragos spokesman Jostyn Hernandez.