Vince Mish

Compensation for most executives at Chattanooga-based tow truck maker Miller Industries fell in 2008 following two consecutive years of contracting sales.

Some top executives agreed to pay cuts for 2008 to help offset those declines, said J. Vincent Mish, executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer for Miller.

“We were doing companywide cost-reduction measures, and we all volunteered to reduce our salaries 10 percent,” he said.

Salaries for the company’s two co-CEOs William G. Miller and Jeffrey I. Badgley, were $283,500 in 2008. Mr. Miller received no bonus during the year but saw a 9.8 percent increase in his total compensation for the year.

According to the company, Mr. Miller is entitled to receive a base salary that is substantially the same as the company’s other co-CEO. However, from 1999 through 2006, he had declined increases to which he was entitled under his agreement.

Effective July 2007, the company’s compensation committee increased Mr. Miller’s salary to match the salary of the other CEO in accordance with his employment agreement. For 2008, Mr. Miller’s base salary was adjusted accordingly, the company said.

Mr. Badgley’s total compensation of $370,380 represented a drop of 22.5 percent from 2007 to 2008. Other top officials, Frank Madonia and Mr. Mish, also saw double-digit slides in their compensation packages for the year.

Paul Lapides, director of the Corporate Governance Center at Kennesaw State University, said he applauds executives who take pay cuts.

“When executives take pay cuts it sends a message to all the workers, their customers and shareholders that they understand how these are tough times and they want to participate in the pain with everyone else ,and that’s how readers show leadership,” Mr. Lapides said.

After steeper declines in sales in 2008, officials elected to keep those measures in place through 2009, along with eliminating bonuses.

“We saw the economy begin to decline and order levels and tried to act accordingly,” Mr. Mish said. “The sales wouldn’t be there and we volunteered to take reductions.”

Miller is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of towing and recovery equipment, selling it under the Chevron, Century and Vulcan brands, among others. The company employs 400 people in the Chattanooga area and about 400 worldwide.

Early in 2008, Miller laid off 35 workers and made reductions in work hours for some employees.