When Community College of Allegheny County hired Brian Johnson as senior vice president last year, it offered him a $132,000 salary and a benefits package like any other administrator.

But it also paid for something else: Closing costs on his home.

Top college officials confirmed the $2,000 payment for a North Hills property but refused yesterday to identify the address on which the college spent the money, saying employees' personal information including home addresses are private.

Asked about the expenditure, county Chief Executive Dan Onorato called it "totally unacceptable" and yesterday directed county manager Jim Flynn and other CCAC board members he appoints to review the policy "and make sure it doesn't happen again."

"He believes it's an inappropriate use of public funds," said Kevin Evanto, county communications director.

Other two- and four-year public colleges in the region said yesterday they do not offer such a benefit.

CCAC officials, though, called it a small and reasonable expense to woo Dr. Johnson from Arizona's Mesa Community College. CCAC generally has recruited home-grown talent but increasingly uses national searches, said CCAC President Stewart Sutin. He said even with closing costs, CCAC's relocation expense packages are frugal.

Mr. Sutin has faced complaints of late from North Campus faculty over matters including executive pay at a time when CCAC has been cutting courses and paring campus budgets. Today at 2 p.m. on the Boyce Campus, Mr. Sutin and other senior administrators will begin a series of campus town meetings to hear employee views.

"I don't think it's fair to expect people who move into a region to have to pay, out of their own pocket, the expenses for their own move. They should be reimbursed," Mr. Sutin said.

Joyeann Ditka, a union representative and North Campus professor, said it's not the dollar amount but the principle.

"If you're cutting services to your students, then why would you be spending money in this manner? That's amazing," she said.

Though some public colleges offer moving expenses, spokesmen for Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh and the State System of Higher Education all said they do not pay closing costs on real estate, even for top executives. Community colleges in Beaver and Butler counties said the same as did the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and its Port Authority.

Allegheny County's real estate Web site says a property in Ross sold for $372,000 on Oct. 4, 2004, and lists as its current owners Brian Johnson and wife Libra. Dr. Johnson was not available for comment yesterday. His wife's name is identified as Libra on an alumni Web site for Northern Arizona University, which announced Dr. Johnson's move to CCAC.

Dr. Johnson, who received a doctorate from Northern Arizona, is CCAC's senior vice president for student and community services and chief executive officer of its Allegheny Campus. At Mesa, he was vice president of student and community services.