P&S COUNCIL NEWS
May 15, 2006

Salary Policy and Matrix Recommendations for FY07 Approved by P&S Council

At its May 5 meeting, the P&S Council called on the ISU Administration to break with the past in determining how salary increases for P&S staff will be handled during the coming year. Each year the P&S Council provides its recommendation to the ISU Administration regarding salary policy.

Council members voted 29 to 1 with 3 abstentions to ask the
University administration to:

• Provide a 3.2 percent cost-of-living salary increase for satisfactory
  performance
• Provide an additional 1 percent or more for exceptional performance
  evaluations, to address equity issues, and to begin to address the
  past years' lower than cost-of-living increases
• Allow departments, units, colleges, to reallocate internally to achieve the higher increases in anticipation of inadequate funds provided by the legislature

Salary policy for many years has included a minimum increase for satisfactory performance and additional increases based on individual performance. The minimum increase has traditionally been set at approximately one-third of the percentage of the funds provided to general fund budget units for faculty and P&S staff compensation increases. In the past two years, the minimum increase has been set at a percentage of the pay grade midpoint rather than a percentage of the employee's salary. Using one-third of the percentage of funds available for salary to address cost-of-living increases has not provided P&S employees performing satisfactorily the ability to maintain their standard of living.

Since these minimum increases have not mirrored the rising cost of living, Council members suggest that the university and Board of Regents Office abandon this method of providing salary adjustments. The process recommended to be implemented beginning this year provides the percentage indicated by the Midwest Region Urban CPI as the minimum increase for employees with satisfactory performance. The pay matrix minimums and maximums should move by this CPI each year.

Combining this history with the escalating costs of gasoline and energy costs, not to mention health care costs, campus parking permit fees, and tuition, the Council said it is vital that salary increases reflect inflation. It should be noted that providing employees with a 3.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment this year does not address the inflationary and market erosion employees have experienced over the past decade. This issue will continue to need attention in future years.

A detailed copy of the Council's salary recommendation is available online as a Word document at http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/docket/FY06/FY06-11.doc. The information provided in the full salary resolution explains the rationale used by the P&S Council Executive Committee and Compensation and Benefits Committee while developing the proposal.

P&S Council to Install New Officers June 6

Cathy Good, program coordinator for the Agriculture Experiment Station at ISU, will assume leadership of the 35-member Professional and Scientific Council at the Council's annual transition meeting on June 6.

Good has served as president-elect for the past year, chairing the Council's meetings and assisting President Dan Woodin. Other new officers who will be installed June 6 are President-Elect Teri Peterson, who was elected at the Council's January meeting; and Secretary Lynne Mumm and at-large executive committee members Malisa Rader and Brenda Van Beek, who were elected in May. Mumm replaces Barbara McBreen who is leaving the Council after completing two terms, and Rader and Van Beek were incumbents in the at-large positions.

The five officers serve as an Executive Committee, representing P&S employees on issues that come up between meetings of the Council. The Executive Committee also holds regular monthly meetings that are attended by the chairs of the council's six standing committees.

More information on the new officers is available online at http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/2006PSElection/Officers.html

P & S Retention and Recruitment Grant Proposals Due June 19

Proposals for the 2006 P&S Retention and Recruitment Grant program are now being accepted with a deadline of June 19. Funding for the program has been increased by the President's office to $45,000 for next year. Grant applications will be due June 19 and recipients will be announced July 28 with funding available for fall semester for programs that are selected. To view the Call for Proposals, go to http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/RandRproposals06.html

New Award to Recognize Best Awards Program for P&S Staff

A new one-time award honoring the best college or department / unit awards program on the ISU campus will be presented next fall by the P&S Council Awards Committee.

The deadline for nominations for the new award is June 15. The group selected for the honor will be notified in mid-August, and the open forum will be scheduled in early fall. More information is available online at http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/Awards.html