[Update note: Strib official comments added, plus more on executive chopping.]

Before the Star Tribune exited bankruptcy last fall, its unions — whose members took significant layoffs and wage cuts — complained that the news organization hadn't complied with federal law revealing the new CEO and his or her pay. Strib officials told the court they hadn't made the hire and would comply with the law when they did.

On Friday, four days after new publisher Mike Klingensmith started work, the news organization filed the necessary disclosure: Klingensmith will make "$400,000 per year in cash, plus incentive compensation and options struck at plan value."

The disclosure comes at an awkward time — the Strib is about to buy out or lay off 30 newsroom workers, some with several decades of experience, after pink-slipping about 70 other workers company-wide late last year.

Klingensmith represents an added cost because predecessor Chris Harte, a part-owner, was only reimbursed for expenses.

(You can see Strib execs' 2008 compensation here. The only other comparable CEO comp I've unearthed is Bill Kling's: The Minnesota Public Radio president and CEO earned $606,753 from MPR, American Public Media and Greenspring, MPR's for-profit arm.)

As you might expect, Strib unions have complained management has not cut itself enough, at least in the newsroom. At the corporate level, the Strib has not replaced digital media president Dan Shorter and, update, chief financial officer David Montgomery and vice-president for finance Jon Ochetti.

Still, rank-and-file Stribbers I spoke with following Klingensmith's hiring were cautiously optimistic. After all, any paper needs an effective CEO (a title the new publisher also holds). Even if the former Time, Inc. sales boss isn't Sergey Brin or Steve Jobs, he has the resume for shepherding new products that could boost revenues — or at least keep revenues from plummeting, along with employment levels.

The filing does not specify what Klingensmith's incentive plan or options structure looks like. [Update: Strib spokesperson Ben Taylor says the company will not comment beyond the document.] The filing does note that Klingensmith has joined Star Tribune Media Company's board; Taylor says that will be official this week. The four other members were revealed in September.