UNLV gives merit pay as it shows others door

By Charlotte Hsu

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 | 2 a.m.

While some UNLV employees are taking buyouts or getting laid off, others are getting more money.

A salary roster UNLV released this week shows 1,427 of 1,968 faculty and professional staff members are receiving merit-based raises this fiscal year worth $1,000 to $4,500 annually. That means 72.5 percent of UNLV workers eligible for merit pay were awarded it.

Employees will begin receiving their merit raises Jan. 1.

Usually, the increases kick in July 1 at the start of the fiscal year. But to save money, the board that governs Nevada’s public university system voted to delay this year’s distribution for six months.

Once in place, the merit raises will become an ongoing expense, costing UNLV about $3.6 million a year. Most of that amount — $3.3 million — will come from the state.

All UNLV employees paid by the state are also getting 4 percent cost-of-living pay increases.

Bryan Spangelo, immediate past chairman of the university’s faculty senate, said merit increases help the school retain talented workers including researchers who bring in millions of dollars in federal funding.

He said he opposed the six-month delay in disbursing merit raises because “I didn’t want to penalize the high performers.”

Spangelo said in light of the budget crisis, administrators should be making strategic cuts — eliminating programs that are unsuccessful, for example — instead of “assaulting faculty salaries.”

Officials say they will likely have to cut entire academic programs if UNLV has to absorb a 14.12 percent cut next year.

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Employee buyouts will save UNLV $5.6 million in the next biennium.

Twenty-two full-time employees, including 15 faculty members, accepted the offer UNLV announced July 18. They are to receive 110.5 percent of their annual pay this fiscal year in exchange for their resignation before Dec. 31.

The deadline to apply for the program was Sept. 30. UNLV has negotiated similar separation agreements with two longtime, part-time faculty members.

The $5.6 million in savings includes salary and benefit expenses UNLV would have paid these 24 employees had they continued working. Only employees 60 and older with 10 years of service or whose age and years of service added up to at least 75 qualified for the buyout.

The buyouts are part of the university’s efforts to cut costs in light of the state’s financial crisis. The governor has asked public agencies including the higher education system to reduce their state-funded budgets by 14.12 over the next two fiscal years, which for UNLV would amount to a $60.7 million cut.

Besides offering incentives for workers to resign, UNLV has laid off about 60 employees and left many vacant positions unfilled to save money, said Gerry Bomotti, UNLV’s senior vice president of finance and business.

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Taking a break from discussing budget cuts, UNLV President David Ashley visited Bartlesville, Okla., this month to attend the annual meeting of the National Academy of Construction, a group of construction and engineering industry leaders that inducted Ashley this year.

Ashley was among 10 new members honored. As an engineer, he has worked on the Panama Canal expansion and the California Bay Bridge replacement, among other projects.

“I’m very pleased that I’ve been able to have these kinds of accomplishments and honored by the recognition,” he said.

“To the extent that they bring luster to UNLV, I’m pleased by that.”

The university paid about $900 for the president to travel to and stay in Oklahoma.