The highest compensation in councils of that size was $639,556 for David Larkin, Scout executive of the Atlanta Area Council.

The lowest was for Barnes locally in Ogden. In fact, 90 Scout executives in smaller councils are paid more than Barnes (who has 28 years experience) — including 10 councils that are grouped among the smallest category.

Of note, salaries are set by volunteer boards overseeing local councils. But the national BSA gives them ranges of high and low salaries that are acceptable for each position. Pay is also based on performance.

Moore notes that larger councils also usually look for someone who has experience leading a smaller council. He said a normal practice is to give them about a 15 percent raise to move to the larger council. (Moore has led three different councils.)

What is fair?

Scout officials defend their comparatively high salaries.

Baird, volunteer president of the Orem-based council, says, "Data has meaning in context. So to someone who is reading your newspaper and is earning $30,000 to $40,000 a year, yes I think it would sound like a lot of money to them."

But he compares a council Scout executive to a superintendent of a school district. "We have 68,000 students in our educational institution (council)," he said. "They are instructed by 35,000 volunteers. That is massive."

So he said a Scout executive earning $161,000, as Powell did there at the end of his career before retirement, is not much different than the $178,000 a year that he says the superintendent of Alpine School District receives, or the $127,000 for the superintendent of the Provo district or the $132,000 paid in the Nebo district.

He said comparisons to other Scout councils show pay here is at correct levels. "We also believe it is fair by the standard of other professions of similar standing in our community."

Ricks, the volunteer president of the Ogden-based council and a retired vice president of Browning firearms, said he has seen both in business and Scouting that, "If you don't pay well, you will not get top talent. If you don't get top people, you will just fail."

He says if Utah councils do not pay well, the top executives will simply go to other councils of similar size — and notes that councils here directly compete with possibly more attractive places to live such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, Orlando and Baltimore.