Mr. Bagott Replies to TAF’s “Cryptic Memo”

This was just sent over to me. Mr. Bagott, the author of the book that exposes the odd salary information for the president of The Appraisal Foundation, David Bunton. I will add to the oddity of this week by disclosing that someone from Mr. Bunton’s staff called me Tuesday and essentially gave me a dressing down for posting the information that I had at that juncture. Once again, I am not trying to denigrate Mr. Bunton, I am just asking about the transparency of the organization and the use of public monies and monies collected from the appraisers that must pay for the standards that they follow.

CRYPTIC MEMO CLAIMS FOUNDATION DEALT BUNTON INTERNAL RETIREE PAYOUT PLUS CEO PAY IN 2017

An unsigned, undated memo on Appraisal Foundation letterhead was posted to the blog site “Valuation Nation” on January 22. The memo, citing “inaccurate” reporting in an unnamed recently published book, sought to further explain the 2017 annual pay of David S. Bunton, president of the Appraisal Foundation. The $760,000 pay package for the head of the 14-employee nonprofit, categorized as “compensation” in the Foundation’s Form 990, was reported to have included both an annual CEO pay component alongside an internal retirement-related payout.

“There are many open questions about the internal retirement component of Bunton’s pay if this memo is accurate,” said Jeremy Bagott, author of Dispatches from the Cosmic Breeding Farm, a book dealing with waste and abuse in appraiser oversight. “For example, have any additional sequenced internal retirement accounts been set up by his compensation committee or anyone else? One thing is clear: Bunton was no retiree in 2017. Nor was he one in 2018 or 2019. Even a onetime internal payout could have the effect of underreporting his pay over the coming years. Part of this haul was once our money, public money,” said the author.

Bagott contacted David Greer, Director of Communications for the nonprofit, seeking further comment. As of this writing, an email to Greer was unreturned.