Five percent salary increase may be bumped down to 3 percent

UA employees expecting a 5 percent salary increase in April may have to settle for only 3 percent as a result of state-mandated budget cuts.

Republican Gov. Jane Dee Hull released her budget cut recommendations for the state on Monday to fulfill a two-year, $1.6 billion state deficit.

Those recommendations include slimming the 5 percent salary increase approved by the state legislature last spring down to 3 percent and pushing the April date back to July.

George Davis, University of Arizona provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, said at Monday's Faculty Senate meeting that the fate of the increases is still up in the air.

"We are currently in a waiting game with those increases," he said. "We are advocating the importance of those salary increases, and we will be doing that on the state level."

The state legislature could reject the governor's recommendations when it convenes for a special session Tuesday, but officials say if the state plans on freezing the three state universities' cuts at 4 percent, it will need to pull money from somewhere else.

The salary increases - which are for all state employees - have caused debate since they were approved. Various state agencies have interpreted the increases differently.

UA President Peter Likins has endorsed a plan that would guarantee all university employees a minimum increase of $1,500 each year for the next two years. That would mean those making more than $30,000 a year would have to earn their 5 percent through additional merit increases.

Likins said he does not support Hull's plan to reduce the increases, but he said the governor is trying to find a way to keep the university cuts at 4 percent.

"I was very anxious for salaries to grow," he said. "It really hurts to step back, but the governor has a challenge."

Officials have not yet agreed how the merit increases would be distributed, but they would likely depend on the employee reviews conducted by each department.

Professor of English Peter Medine said at Monday's Faculty Senate meeting that low faculty salaries have been an ongoing problem.

He said that in the 1990s, the university had an average of 6 percent more coming in each year from the state, while faculty salaries went up an average of 2.8 percent.

Medine told Arizona Board of Regents President Kay McKay that the university could solve the "brain drain" problem by using $10 million over a period of three to four years to correct the situation.

Comparable research institutions in other states have 6 to 9 percent annual faculty salary increases, and faculty salaries at other institutions average nearly 40 percent higher than the UA.

The Faculty Senate voted last month to approve a slightly different distribution plan, which would give all faculty 5 percent increases regardless of their current salaries.

The University Compensation Advisory Team - a group of UA employees who advise the administration about salary issues - is still trying to come up with a final plan, which will be placed on Likins' desk for approval.

Larry Schooley, professor of electrical and computer engineering and a member of UCAT, said the group's plans are on hold until the Legislature makes a decision.

"I think it would be a terrible plan," he said. "It would lower morale and we would probably lose a lot of valuable people."

Schooley said that if the governor's plan is approved, UCAT will have to re-evaluate its distribution plan.

Hull has said she supports keeping the cuts for the universities at 4 percent.

She also recommended using money from the Budget Stabilization Fund - also known as the "rainy day" fund - and using revenue bonds for new school construction instead of paying for it out of pocket.