Caterpillar Inc. Chairman Jim Owens took a cut of nearly 60 percent from his take-home pay and a cut of more than 50 percent from his total compensation in 2009, according to documents filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other top officers also sustained steep cuts to their 2009 compensation packages, which was something the company said would happen more than a year ago when it started layoffs and other cuts to save money.

The cuts were unveiled in Caterpillar's proxy statement filed with the SEC.

While other top companies around the country gave their top officers raises in salary and other compensation last year, Caterpillar kept to its word and made sure everybody in the organization felt the cuts made at the end of 2008 and through most of 2009.

In December 2008, as Caterpillar was laying off employees, offering early retirement packages to some, freezing salaries and making other cuts, it announced its top officers would take a reduction in their 2009 compensation by as much as 50 percent.

In most cases, it ended up being even more.

Keeping the commitment to cut pay will be important to shareholders, said industry analyst Robert McCarthy Jr. of Robert W. Baird.

"It's always critical that they follow through with what they tell the shareholders they're going to do. In that regard, it's very important they did this," McCarthy said. "I think in this case the cuts were unavoidable, if only because it was something the investment community expected."

McCarthy said following through also will be important to company employees who have suffered through the recession. While the employees will know the cuts the officers sustain won't harm them, they will see the company kept its word that all would share in the cutbacks. "So what they accomplish with the cuts will be more important because of what they avoided had they done nothing," he said.

The proxy statement showed Owens' take-home pay - base salary and non-equity incentive pay - was cut from $5.9 million in 2008 to $2.4 million, or just less than 60 percent.

The difference was in the incentive compensation, which is tied to company performance. The board of directors' compensation committee noted in the proxy that the company, because of the recession, saw a large drop in profits in 2009 as its sales and revenues fell from $50 billion to about $32 billion.

Owens' incentive pay fell 80 percent, from $4.35 million to $868,001. His base salary remained at $1.55 million.

Owens' total compensation, which includes stock awards, options and deferred compensation, fell from $17.66 million in 2008 to $8.75 million last year, a reduction of just more than 50 percent.

Owens did not receive a bonus in 2009. Neither did other top officers in the company, the proxy showed.

- Vice Chairman and CEO-elect Doug Oberhelman, who was a group president in 2009, had take-home pay of $996,631 in 2009, down 55.2 percent from $2.23 million in base salary and incentive pay received in 2008. His total compensation package was $2.99 million in 2009, down from $5.89 million in 2008, a decrease of about 49.2 percent.

- Group President Richard Lavin's 2009 take-home pay was $780,261, compared with $1.66 million in 2008, a reduction of 52.9 percent. His total compensation was reduced from $5.51 million in 2008 to $2.48 million, a reduction of about 55 percent.

- Group President Stuart Levenick's take-home pay was reduced 54.5 percent, from $2.19 million in 2008 to $994,501. His total compensation was reduced from $5.97 million in 2008 to $2.95 million, a reduction of about 50.6 percent.

- Group President Edward Rapp's take-home pay was reduced about 53 percent, from $1.66 million to $780,194. His total compensation was reduced just less than 50 percent, from $4.80 million to $2.43 million.

- Group President Gerard Vittecoq's take-home pay was reduced 53 percent, from $2.62 million to $1.22 million. His total compensation was reduced 46 percent, from $6.29 million in 2008 to $3.39 million in 2009.

The proxy statement noted that Vittecoq's pay was in Swiss francs converted to U.S. dollars because he lives overseas. His salary appears inflated, the statement said, because of the exchange rate.

- Group President Steven Wunning's take-home pay was reduced 54.6 percent, from $2.19 million in 2008 to $994,921 last year. His total compensation was reduced about 52 percent, from $5.94 million in 2008 to $2.83 million in 2009.

- David Burritt, vice president and chief financial officer - the only nonpresident listed in the proxy - took a 52 percent cut in take-home pay, from $1.35 million in 2008 to $648,791 last year. His total compensation was reduced 43.8 percent, from $3.097 million to $1.74 million.

The compensation committee said that despite the drop in sales and revenues, the top officers met or exceeded the 2009 goals set for them by the board.

Paul Gordon can be reached at 686-3288 or pgordon@pjstar.com