Regents approve 2 percent pay bumps for presidents

CEDAR FALLS -- Leaders of the three state universities and two special schools overseen by the state Board of Regents will see 2 percent pay increases this year.

The raises were unanimously approved by the state Board of Regents Friday during a meeting in Cedar Falls. The board approved the pay increases after meeting in closed session much of the day Thursday and again Friday morning to evaluate the institution heads.

With the 2 percent increase for 2012-13, University of Iowa President Sally Mason's salary in 2012-13 will be $493,272. Iowa State University President Steven Leath will earn $448,800. University of Northern Iowa President Ben Allen, who announced Friday he will retire by next summer, will earn $339,456.

Patrick Clancy, superintendent of the Iowa School for the Deaf and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, also received a 2 percent pay increase, to $166,852, and was awarded a performance bonus of $10,o00. Clancy's deferred compensation package also was increased by $10,000, to $50,000 annually.

Regents Executive Director Bob Donley received a $5,000 performance incentive based on his Fiscal Year 2012 evaluation, and the board created a $5,000 performance incentive, to be based on his Fiscal Year 2013 evaluation. The board also approved for Donley a 26- month deferred compensation plan, to run through Aug. 31, 2014, with an annual contribution of $25,000.

The university presidents also all have deferred compensation packages, but those were not adjusted.

The regents asked the university presidents to limit their budget growth to 2.5 percent for this year, Regents President Craig Lang said, so the 2 percent salary increases are in keeping with that figure.

Looking ahead at challenges in the economy, including the current drought, "we think that 2 percent, with the cost of living where it is today, is the appropriate amount of increase," Lang said.

It's expected board officials in the next legislative session will seek 2.5 percent increases in state funding for the 2013-14 operating budgets, Lang added.

The board on Friday also approved the university budgets for the current fiscal year, 2012-13, which began July 1. The total UI budget, including the operating budget and restricted funds, is about $3.1 billion. ISU's total budget is about $1.2 billion, and UNI's total budget is $333.5 million. The total regents enterprise budget is just over $4.7 billion.