HARTFORD — Legislative leaders are blasting the UConn for moving forward with raises for its senior staff despite the state’s budget problems.
The school says the raises, approved in 2013 and 2014, are meant to bring the salaries of top staff in line with those at peer institutions.
UConn President Susan Herbst is on track to receive $194,500 in raises and bonuses this year under her contract. The most recent data available shows that between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, Herbst earned $694,770, plus $73,788 in fringe benefits, making her total earnings $768,557. That was a 20 percent increase over the year before. We don’t have the data available on what she made in this past fiscal year.
In December, UConn’s Board of Trustees approved a more-than 30 percent increase in tuition costs spread over four years, bringing the in-state tuition from $10,524 to $13,799 by 2019, and out-of-state tuition from $32,066 to $36,466 over the same time period.
But House Speaker Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden), House Republican Leader Themis Klarides (R-Seymour) and Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) say going forward with the pay increases is tone deaf given large-scale state layoffs and budget cuts that have led to tuition hikes at UConn.
Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven), released the following statement:
Really?! You’ve got to be kidding me. One might have thought that the examples of the disastrous mistakes of Chancellor Gray and President Hogan would have left a more lasting impact on decisions regarding raises for administrators in higher education. At a time when painful reductions are being imposed throughout state government, UConn should not see itself as an isolated and privileged exception. I urge President Herbst to reconsider and rescind these untimely raises.
The university’s general counsel, chief architect and Herbst’s deputy chief of staff all are receiving raises this year. As of the 2014-2015 fiscal year, each of those employees made between $170,000 and $300,000, including fringe benefits.
You can look up state employee salaries here.
