Answer – Does not really like the idea of a consultant, the system by which we pay employees is not a bad system, we just need to be able to identify those who performs above and beyond.

Question – If a raise came due last fiscal year but was deferred in part or in full until this upcoming fiscal year, will the employee receive, retroactively, the money that they are owed?  If not, why?

Answer

·        Perhaps this occurred because last year for the first time there was a cap of 10% on equity adjustments

·        no cap in place for FY03

·        No – retroactive raise doesn’t work because equity and salary are fluid and change from one FY to the next

Against current policy

Question – For two years in a row we have had a bumper crop of freshman and good retention and have been told that the projected budget is realistic and everything is fine.  So, why has the AVP’s office been approaching various schools requesting they come up with money to give back?  This request comes EVERY Spring Semester, why?  Doesn’t your office know how to establish a workable budget… one that does not fall short EVERY Spring?

Answer

·        Several things can make this happen…

·        A VP may need to reallocate money within his/her area of responsibility, for example if one department has a surplus and another has a deficit, the VP may move money from one budget to another to make things balance

·        More new requests than new money

·        Need more information to fully answer the question

Question – What are the priorities for setting a budget?

Answer

1.     Cost of Sales items – cost of goods sold has to be covered

·        Financial Aid

·        Bookstore

·        Sodexho

2.     Fixed costs

·        Utilities

·        Telephone

·        Postage

3.     New Operating Expenses – need to maintain new facilities

4.     New Positions

(Items one through four were described as items without much leeway – the Executive Budget Committee sees them as items that must be funded.)

5.     Salary survey adjustments and Benefits adjustments

6.     VP Prioritized list of new items, the majority of which are capital items

7.     Qualitative items (It would be nice is we had a….)

Question – What processes are in place for special funding?  How does GU prioritize funding?  What are the top five considerations?  Why?

Answer

Requested a clarification of special funding

Clarification – When all departments within a certain area have been told that no money exists for capital expenditures, then suddenly an office is remodeled or gets new furniture or computers.  Alternatively, when suddenly a new position is created, funded and filled.

·        VPs/Schools/Dean/Department Heads have discretion within their own budgets

·        All new positions go through the Executive Budget Council which consists of:  Father Spitzer, Chuck Murphy, Wayne Powell, Mike Casey, Rick Jones and Steve Carrozzo

·        Always fund emergencies and try to fund highest priority items

Considerations

1.     Funding within VP area

2.     Quality – will it improve what we do?

3.     Does it fit with institutional/departmental/school goals?

4.     Need and length of time the need has gone unfilled

5.     Growth

Question – To ease workload and increase pay, has GU considered moving employees back to a 40-hour workweek?

Answer

·        No, except in Plant Services, no requests for this have been made.  When Plant Services has made the request and documented the need, funding has been made available, and the employees have been moved to 40 hours.

·        This could happen with other departments if they made the requests, but no push will be made to move everyone back to a 40 hour work week

Question – What are the benefits to budgeting based on a lower number of students than actually attend?  This type of budgeting creates a surplus.  Where does it go?

Answer

·        We budget conservatively in case one area such as graduate school, law or under grad fails to hit its projected attendance goal

·        It would not be wise to budget based on actual Admissions goals.  If you fall short, you would start the academic year asking for money back.

·        Surplus first goes to shortages in any area such as grad/law/UG

·        Surplus covers increased expenses such as unusual utilities increase

·        Surplus covers debt retirement/depreciation

Question – For the past couple of years GU has made it a high priority to hire more Faculty to teach the increasing number of students.  Are there plans to increase the number of staff to help with the increased workload?

Answer

·        New staff positions have to be requested by the VP over a specific area

·        The request needs to flow up from the supervisor/director of an area all the way up to the VP level

·        Need to be more creative in finding ways to get the job done

·        To get new positions, you need to prove workload – documentation starts the process

Question – 65% of the budget goes to salaries.  Where is the other 35% spent?  Is this 65% consistent with other schools our size?

Answer

·        Utilities

·        Capital Expenditures

·        Debt Service

·        All operating expenses

·        Tuition waivers for employees, dependents and RA’s and RD’s

·        Hard to compare us to other schools unless all factors are the same

·        For example is another school outsources some services such as custodial and maintenance, then this cost would not show as salaries, it would show as expense

·        Food service – does the school we are comparing to have internal or outsourced food service?

·        What type of school is it?

·        Are the employees unionized at the other school?

Question – Why with increased workloads and a budget surplus are we only getting a 2% increase?

Answer

·        Fully funding equity at a much higher rate this year than last

·        FY 02 – equity raises were $783,00.00

·        FY 03 – equity raises will be $1,200,00.00

·        Renovations take up available money

·        Utilities continue to rise from $1.4 million in 99-00 to $2.8 in 02-03

·        The average equity increase will be 5.2%

·        Only 15% of non-faculty will be getting the base raise of 2%, the rest will be getting an equity raise this year

Note

In mid-February, a list of questions was forward to Chuck Murphy and Steve Doolittle for answers that could be distributed at this open meeting. No answers to the questions were provided.  These questions are based on the information that was provided in the informational meetings that Father Spitzer and Chuck Murphy held in November.  This list of questions appears below.

1.     Exactly how was the Average Percentage Increase by Classification (APIC) derived?

2.     What was the standard deviation for the APIC data?

3.     What were the median and mode for the raw APIC data?

4.     Please provide a histogram of the raw APIC data?

5.     For each year, how many persons were in each classification?

6.     Please break our average, median and mode for each year for the Administrative, Professional, and Staff Classifications in the following way:

          1.     Employees with 5 or fewer years of employment.

              a.      Employees with a job reclassification or promotion

b.     Employees without a job reclassification or promotion

2.     Employees with 5 or greater years of employment.

a.      Employees with a  job reclassification or promotion

b.     Employees without a job reclassification or promotion

7.     Please break out average, median and mode for each year for the Plant Services Classification in the following way:

             1.     Separate the data into each time slice for payroll (SOMEBODY IN PLANT SERVICES NEEDS TO PROVIDE THIS INFO)

8.      A pie chart showing what percentage of the total salary increase was given to each Classification (Faculty, Administrative, Professional, and Staff, and Plant Services).

Question - The following question was added to the bottom of the sheet, and the questions were distributed in the open meeting.  BOTTOM LINE – Where did the averages for salary increases come from that are on the handout that was distributed in the November meetings with Chuck Murphy and Father Spitzer?

Answer

·        Is it necessary to expend the time and resources to gather the data?  We have a policy and we pay by it.

Question – At this point Brett Hendricks helped to clarify the need to have the information.  While the spreadsheet that we were asking questions about stated an average increase much higher that the usual 2% and since it didn’t seem like that was a real reflection of the pay increase that staff have experienced, we wanted to know how the numbers were derived. 

Answer

·        Example – If you have a pool of salary dollars for existing employees that is $20,000,000.00 and the salary adjustments equal $1,000,000.00 then you have a total average increase of 5%.  Not every employee in the given pool received a 5% increase.

Question – Most employees realize a good increase in pay over the first five years of employment at GU, but then increases are small, often times not even keeping up with the cost of benefits.  So, some years some employees go backward in take home pay and this is not just.

Answer

·        No, it is not fair.  Nevertheless, we are paying by policy. 

·        Chuck expressed hope that this is an aberration and frustration that is does happen with our current pay system.

Question – Contrary to what you said earlier about the consultant, doesn’t that imply the need for an outside consultant?

Answer – At this point Chuck reiterated that he thinks the only part of our pay system that needs revision is that we need to find a way to reward our best performers. 

Question – Washington is a hire at will state.  Doesn’t the fact that an employee has been here for a number of years, like 15 or 20, tell you that the employee is a good worker?  If not, why are they still employed here?

Answer – Longevity would be a consideration, but any pay system that awarded for merit would have to be based primarily on performance, not length of service. 

Scheduling of future meetings

Next Meeting will be held on April 24, 2002.

Future meetings will be held each Wednesday in Crosby Large Conference Room from 12:00 – 1:00.  Since this is the lunch hour, please feel free to bring your lunch.  All SAEC members will be notified if there is a change to this recurring meeting.

By virtue of the bylaws, all Staff Assembly meetings are open unless otherwise designated by the Executive Council.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

http://www.gonzaga.edu/staff         email:  staff-assembly@gonzaga.edu