Billion-dollar budget approved by regents

The 1999-2001 budget request for the six-campus University and Community College System of Nevada now goes to the governor, who likely will make changes before sending it to the 1999 Legislature.

The vote Friday for the budget was unanimous, although some concern was expressed about the $350 million increase requested by the system.

Regent Shelley Berkley said the request may be large, but it represents what the board honestly believes is necessary for higher education for the next two years.

"I don't think any of us have an expectation that all of our needs will be met," she said. "There isn't enough money in the state to satisfy a growing system.

"But it is incumbent upon us as regents to explain what our goals are and to take our recommendations to the Legislature," she said.

System officials, including Chancellor Richard Jarvis, concede the proposal won't be fully supported by the governor or Legislature. But Jarvis said it gives lawmakers an indication of where the system wants to be in the next few years.

The proposed budget includes $177.3 million from student, up 34 percent due to higher numbers of students and to slight fee increases of $2.50 per credit at universities and $1.50 per credit at community colleges.

The budget includes operating funds for a dental school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas even though regents haven't formally taken a position on whether the program should be initiated.

UNLV President Carol Harter said that decision could come in October. The dental school and several related health programs are the major new initiatives proposed by UNLV for the 1999-2001 budget, she added.

Richard Moore, president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, said just keeping up with student growth at the fastest growing college in the nation is his top budget priority.

The budget would add 100 full-time faculty members over two years, more than doubling the number of teachers at the school in five years, he said.

Regents also got a committee recommendation that Jarvis should get a pay raise that will take him to nearly $206,000 a year.

Regents Chairman Jill Derby said that with allowances for two houses and a car, the increase will bring Jarvis's total compensation to about $225,000 annually.

But even that salary won't make him the highest-paid administrator in the university system. The top money earner is Robert Daugherty, dean of the College of Medicine at University of Nevada, Reno who will get a 3.7 percent increase to $227,462.

The regents are expected to formally approve the increase for Jarvis and campus presidents at their October meeting.

The salary information brought questions from several members of the regents including Howard Rosenberg, who said he's disturbed by the merit pay system.

"Merit is something special," Rosenberg said. "It's not meeting expectations, it is significantly exceeding expectations."

University of Nevada, Reno president Joe Crowley is recommended for a 4.5 percent increase that would bring him to $202,269, not including his car and house allowances.

UNLV president Harter would get the same percentage as Crowley, raising her pay to $186,924.

The lowest paid of all the campus presidents is Western Nevada Community College's Jim Randolph, who will get 5.5 percent more under recommendations submitted to the board Friday by Jarvis. That will being him to $120,544.

The other community college presidents will get similar increases. Their proposed salaries are: CCSN President Richard Moore, $145,413; TMCC President John Richardson, $146,771; Ron Remington, president of Great Basin College, $134,470.

Finally, Desert Research Institute interim-President Peter Barber will receive $148,000 a year for his labors.

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