Regents OK salary hikes for Utah school presidents

The Salt Lake Tribune

While faculty pay hasn’t budged on most campuses in three years, Utah college and university presidents will get raises under a plan approved unanimously Friday by the State Board of Regents.

The pay hikes, ranging from 2.8 to 12.5 percent, are necessary to ensure Utah schools can attract and retain top administrative talent, Regents chairman David Jordan told board members gathered at Dixie State College.

Legislative leaders, however, are concerned about how the public will view stacking more pay onto some of the most well-compensated public servants in their towns.

“I thought they are sending the wrong message when they are laying people off and cutting budgets and they are giving raises to the highest paid people on the campuses,” said Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville.

Besides paychecks, most presidents earn numerous perks, such as housing and a vehicle, that few others in state employment receive.

Two presidents said they will plow the raises back into their institutions.

Although Snow College President Scott Wyatt got the smallest hike, he said his $4,200 is going into a scholarship fund.

“This came out of the blue for me,” said Wyatt, whose new salary is $155,000. “Until the employees at Snow College get a raise I won’t accept one. I don’t want to lead out in my institution on a salary increase.”
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The need for better pay became apparent as regents begin their search for Michael Young’s successor as University of Utah president, which is being guided by a national consultant.

“The consultant said in an unabashed way that under the current pay we are not as competitive as we ought to be,” Jordan said. “We compete with various institutions. The market sets a price. If you want to attract the best talent and best leaders you have to be at least striking range of the market.”

The hikes, approved with no discussion, were calculated under a comparison compiled by the higher education commissioner’s office.

“I’m unhappy to advise you that of our eight presidents, none is at the median salary of their peers,” Jordan said. “No one is within 10 percentage points, and many are 20 to 30 percent below their peers.”

The U.’s presidential base salary will be increased 3.3 percent to $360,000 — still $65,000 or 18 percent below last year’s average among the nation’s doctoral-degree granting schools. However, deferred compensation that has been awarded in the past — as an incentive to stay in the job — could sweeten the pot for prospective U. presidents.

The regents have identified an informal goal of bringing presidential pay to within 90 percent of national norms. But that might be hard to achieve when faculty and staff salaries remain frozen, and lag behind what their peers earn in other states.

Southern Utah University President Michael Benson is setting up a scholarship to receive a portion of his $13,000 raise. The rest will pay off loans he incurred earning a master’s degree in nonprofit administration over the past few summers at Notre Dame. But he supported the regents’ move.

“I understand times are difficult, but we owe it to our institutions to have competitive pay so they can attract the very, very best,” said Benson, who has been on a mission to upgrade the academic caliber of his Cedar City campus. Under his leadership, SUU faculty pay has not been stagnant, whereas pay freezes have been in place for a third year around the state. Benson used tuition hikes to increase faculty pay from 86 percent of the average at peer institutions to 95 percent over this time period.

The biggest hikes, worth about $20,000, go to the presidents of Utah’s fast growing regional schools — Dixie State College, which is gearing up for a transition to a university (12.5 percent), and Weber State University (9.5 percent).

Meanwhile, the commissioner of higher education is contracting with a national consulting firm to perform a more comprehensive analysis to inform a future program of presidential pay adjustments.

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U.S. Has Weakest Labor Protections Among Rich Nations

A new international comparison makes it clear just how weak protections are for working people in the United States. University of Missouri-St. Louis associate professor Kenneth Thomas reviewed numbers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and found that in 21 categories,

U.S. workers are more vulnerable than workers in any [OECD] members (rich industrialized democracies) or even the so-called growing BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China…to being fired unfairly, to not getting severance pay, to getting the least notice on mass layoffs or being fired, to being stuck on a mouse wheel of temporary positions.

Thomas also compared the United States labor protections with those in Estonia, Indonesia and South Africa for good measure. The result, in every case, Thomas says on his blog Middle Class Political Economist, is that not only is the United States in last place, it isn’t even close.

Check out the numbers here.

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Utah median income drops below 1997 level

sltrib.com

Back in 1997, Bill Clinton began his second term as president. The first Harry Potter novel appeared. Gasoline cost $1.30 a gallon. The median household income in Utah was $57,938 in 2010 dollars.

Now, 14 years later, Utah’s median income has dropped below that level. In 2010, it was $56,787, or $1,151 lower than in 1997, according to Census data released this week.

Utah had also once dipped temporarily below the 1997 income level in 2007 at the beginning of the recession, then recovered upward. But now, even though the recession technically ended in 2009, the new numbers show income is dropping again during continuing tough economic times.

“We lost 10 years of growth when the recession hit,” said University of Utah research economist Pam Perlich. “And we’re back at that point again.”

It is as if Utahns hadn’t had a raise since 1997. But prices, of course, have been rising.

“You have this horrific recession still haunting us,” Perlich said.

“It’s a tragic situation, really,” said James A. Wood, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah.

“Incomes have just stagnated. But many of those households have maintained their style of living … with credit and borrowing against their house. Those days are gone. They are stuck with lots of debt, bad credit and maybe a foreclosed home. Many have had to move back” with parents or other family, he said.

Wood said many jobs destroyed in the recession likely will come back slowly, if at all.

For example, he said Utah went from having about 105,000 construction jobs before the recession to about 65,000 now.

“So there are 40,000 households [in the construction industry] where if they are working, they are only working part-time. It will be a long time before those jobs come back,” he said.

He said another Utah job sector that was hard hit was manufacturing. He said it went from 125,000 jobs to 110,000. “They were high-wage jobs. If you go to Brigham City now [after layoffs by ATK], it’s bleak.”

Wood said the “recession is what is driving most of it,” but not all. He said a long-term shift globally has also been sending jobs abroad to places such as India, China and Brazil.

“They have a competitive advantage in some areas that can be outsourced and then brought back at a much cheaper rate. So we have price and job competition from a global community. … It causes all sorts of dislocation and grief here.”

He adds that in America, “We’re getting a little less rich … and other places are catching up.”

Wood adds, “Between this recession that we’ve had — and it’s more than a recession, it’s a financial crisis — and then the ongoing, 20-years-in-the-making global competition,” times are tough and present a tough outlook.

ldavidson@sltrib.com

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Private Contractors Are Double the Cost of Public Workers

In the past year, congressional Republicans and right-wing extremists have ramped up their long-standing campaign against federal workers, claiming their pay is too high and their benefits too generous compared to private-sector workers. A new study shows how wrong they are.

According to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), the federal government pays more than twice as much to private contractors than it would cost federal workers to perform the same work. The government spends some $320 billion a year for services by private contractors.

Groups opposing federal workers cooked the books and used incomplete information—comparing just salaries and not including benefits and other costs—in their studies comparing costs. But POGO General Counsel Scott Amey told The New York Times:

We compared the full compensation paid to federal government and private-sector employees to the billable rates in federal service contracts. Across the board you see that it cost government more to pay for contractors.

The report notes that for “decades there have been increasing political pressures to reduce the size of the federal government.”

In response the government has awarded service contracts, resulting in an expanding “shadow government” that costs hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The focus on comparing federal and private-sector salaries needs to shift because they have nothing to do with what the government actually pays for services. Instead, the focus properly belongs on analyzing the full costs of paying contractors to perform federal services.

Given the nation’s ongoing economic problems, this analysis has become even more relevant—approximately one-quarter of all discretionary spending now goes to service contractors.

Project On Government Oversight is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms.

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In Ogden, candidates with city, county ties advance in primary

sltrib.com

Ogden voters trimmed a slate of eight mayoral candidates to two — Mike Caldwell and Brandon Stephenson — who advance to the general election ballot this November.

In unofficial results, Caldwell garnered 1,953 votes or 34.5 percent, Stephenson drew 1,342 votes or 24 percent, and Susie Van Hooser came in a close third with 1,271 votes or 23 percent of the total. Voter turnout was 19 percent, according to the Weber County clerk.

Caldwell, 40, is Weber County’s public information officer and, among other leadership roles, oversees distribution of Recreation, Arts, Museum and Parks (RAMP) funds. He pledged to make Ogden the place where people want to live, work and play.

By Sept. 6, Caldwell had far outpaced the other contenders financially, raising a robust $45,414 in campaign funds.

“We were obviously thrilled by having the lead. That’s when you know your message resonated,” Caldwell said from the Ben Lomond Hotel on Tuesday where he and about 100 supporters had watched as results poured in.

Stephenson, 42, is nearing the end of his second City Council term and touted that experience, along with his business acumen, as sound preparation to serve as the city’s chief executive. He vowed to continue aggressive downtown revitalization. As of Sept. 6, Stephenson had raised $19,450.

Stephenson attributed his edge Tuesday to a last-minute push that included fliers, knocking on doors and “calling folks that were undecided.”

“This will be a whole new campaign,” Stephenson said from his home Tuesday, where he awaited returns with about 50 supporters. “I’ll have to revisit my strategy.”

Fundraising is a good indicator of how a candidate will fare in a primary election, said Alan Crooks, who runs a Salt Lake City-based political consulting business. “Anyone who invests doubles down to back up their investment,” Crooks said. “They’ll tell their friends to vote as well.”

Councilwoman Susie Van Hooser, 68, came in a close third behind Stephenson. The retired schoolteacher, who in 2007 narrowly lost to then-two-term incumbent Mayor Matthew Godfrey, had raised $10,035 by Sept. 6.

The city’s top job drew broad interest when Godfrey decided not to seek a fourth term. For more than a decade, Godfrey strived to breathe life into Ogden’s dying downtown through sometimes controversial redevelopment projects.

Elsewhere in Utah, candidates competed for City Council seats. In West Valley City, the only incumbent running, at-large Councilman Corey Rushton, advanced to the general election. Rushton, who raised more campaign money than anyone else running for a West Valley seat in the primary ($12,415) will face John Huntinghouse ($1,522).

In West Jordan, women made a strong showing with all three female candidates leading their districts. Judith Hansen garnered more votes than incumbent Jim Lems in District 2, with both advancing to the general election with 46 percent and 32 percent respectively, according to unofficial returns. Ellen Smith led District 1 with 40 percent, and Cheryl Acker surged in District 4 with 39 percent. The trio could overturn the gender balance in West Jordan government, which is headed by Mayor Melissa Johnson and a six-member, all-male council.

In Provo’s Municipal Council District 3 contest, Hal Miller, a Brigham Young University professor, and Richard Wood, a retired school teacher, advanced to the general election. Turnout was low in the district, with only 5 percent of registered voters turning out for the primary.

In Council District 4, James Pettersson, an English as a Second Language professor and North Park neighborhood chairman, and Kay Van Buren, a homebuilder and Grandview South neighborhood chairman, will face off to replace Councilwoman Sherrie Hall Everett. Seven percent of that district’s registered voters participated.

Reporters Katie Drake, Donald Meyers and Pamela Manson contributed to this report.

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