After nearly two hours of testimony and questioning, the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities decided to reconvene Thursday morning to discuss and vote on the fate of AB 709, which calls for legislators to establish salary ranges and adjustments for UW System senior executive positions.
The UW Board of Regents currently makes decisions regarding salary but has received criticism after granting a 43 percent pay increase to UW System President Kathrine Lyall.
In a lengthy testimony, Jay Smith, president of the Board of Regents, offered an explanation of Lyall’s pay raise. While Lyall is the longest serving university president in the nation, her new salary of $299,000, Smith said, is $15,000 below the median of her peer group. In comparison, the president of the University of Minnesota System makes $350,000.
“She runs the most efficient university system in the nation,” Smith said. “Under her leadership, administrative costs have declined from 6.4 to 5.8 percent while nationally that percentage has risen from 9.5 to 10.4 percent. You could argue that she saves the state $17.3 million annually due to that efficiency.”
In addition to Lyall, four other senior executives received significant raises, which fell below the median in their peer group. Smith focused on how the $185,000 used was not new money, but reallocated funds that constituted less than one-thousandth of one percent of the $3 billion dollar university budget.
Rep. John Gard, R-Peshtigo, said the announcement of raises was a surprise.
“While I can understand the board wanting this discretion, I believe their responsibility was not used wisely,” Gard said. “This is a state institution of higher learning, and it’s not immune from a lagging economy.”
Rep. Frank Lasse, R-Bellevue, said legislators used to have control of pay raises.
“We have a first class university system,” he said. “We were obviously doing something right.”
Those opposed to the bill questioned putting legislators in power and how that might affect the future.
“Would we be questioning this if it were a football coach who could lead the Badgers?” Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Summit said. “I think this is a dangerous precedent to say that only the legislators have the power.”
The board’s goal is to have all 35 top leaders within 95 percent — plus or minus 10 percent — of the median salary in their peer group.
Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, argued in favor of the Board of Regents controlling salaries, and said he questioned how low the executives should be paid in order for the UW System to maintain a high quality and reputation.
Representatives in favor of the bill pointed to a legislator’s responsibility to their constituents.
“I’m not hearing a positive response [to the raise],” committee chair Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, said. “Nine-tenths of the Board will not be recognized, but we, as elected officials, are known and held responsible. Not everyone who becomes a chancellor is only interested in dollars.”
Lasse agreed and said elected officials must manage UW System salaries.
“[This bill] is putting the responsibility towards people that aren’t elected,” he said. “We have mismanaged things. It’s our responsibility. This bill will help us get some of that back.”
