State
budget cuts hit CSULB President's Office
By
Monica Pardee
On-line Forty-Niner
Student
organizations may find that they are receiving
less help from the President's Office in
future years if continued cuts are made
at Cal State Long Beach, or if more programs
become affiliated with the office's funding.
"Over the last year or two as the budget
has gotten worse we have decreased the amount
of support we can give, because we're taking
budget cuts as well," said Armando
Contreras, President Robert Maxson's executive
assistant.
The
President's Office took a 4 percent cut
this year, similar to other areas on campus,
but the blow was softened by surplus funds
that had been put aside from previous years.
The overall budget for the President's Office
for the 2002-03 fiscal year was $1,530,979,
even after taking cuts for 2003-04 the total
figure is $1,635,079.
"The
problem now is that we've used up all the
reserves," Contreras said, "There
are savings and we encourage people not
to spend too much and put away some money,
but still, it's one time money, we don't
have it for this year."
This
reduction equated as a $75,900 cut from
the office's operating expenses. In the
2002-03 fiscal year the operating expenses
totaled $608,188 and included telephone
services, postal services and supplies.
The 2003-04 budget included some reallocations
of services and adjustments to funding,
and after the cut totaled $569,046.
But
according to Janet Parker, the director
of budget and human resource information
services, "Over the past seven years
the President Office's budget has increased
by 74 percent. During that same time frame,
the universities General
Fund Budget increased 54.5 percent,"
Parker said. "The increases were justified
not only to recover from the deep cuts of
the early '90s, but to support enrollment
growth that was funded with the money."
Presidential paychecks.
Salaries
for Maxson and the other managerial positions
in the President's Office are associated
with system-wide pay scales prescribed by
the California State University and Chancellor
Reed. CSU presidential salaries can be between
$120,288 to $253,440 annually, dependent
upon their experience and their years of
service. Many factors influence the pay
scale, according to Parker.
"Management
employees, much like staff employees and
faculty have a classification system that
applies," Parker said. "There
are all types of things that go into it.
There are market surveys, because you want
to be able to attract the best and the brightest
within the constraint of resources. If you
want to attract good, qualified candidates
you have to be competitive within the local
market, and then nationally within higher
education."
In
a recent news report on National Public
Radio it was said that the prospective president
for Boston University, a high-power East
Coast university, was to be awarded a salary
of $750,000. And according to The Chronicle
of Higher Education's salary report, presidential
salaries at 12 public schools would make
more than $500,000 during the current term.
"A
lot of presidential positions and higher
positions in administration are portable,
you can go wherever you want," Parker
said. "In the larger, more private
institutions when you see the salary schedule
for the presidents and some of the higher
positions, you're like, 'wow, we're underpaying
our president.' Some of those guys have
football coaches that are paid more than
the president. It's all relative."
Compared
with the 22 other CSU campuses Maxson stands
a little differently. According to the Board
of Trustees meeting agenda from Nov 12,
2002, Maxson has a lower annual salary compared
with only one other CSU campus president,
Warren Baker of CSU, San Luis Obispo who
has hit the bar at $253,440 annually.
Maxson's
closest followers are the presidents at
the Los Angeles, San Diego and Humbolt campuses.
The majority of campus presidents' salaries
linger near the $200,000 line.
In
the last five years Maxson's salary has
increased by nearly $100,000, and often
in 12 to 15 percent annual increases. More
recently, his annual increases slowed to
smaller increments. Only $8,000 from the
top salary, Maxson received no increase
in salary from the 2002-03 to the 2003-04
term due to budget cuts.
With
more budget cuts projected by Schwarzenegger,
which include an immediate $1.9 billion
cut that will be affecting public education
and Social Services, CSULB may be in for
another round of across the board cuts.
Like
other departments on campus, the President's
Office will have more storms to weather
before the budget crisis is over. Protections
on classroom instruction and student services
has meant more cuts for administration and
could mean hard times for Maxson and the
programs that have safe harbor under his
wing.
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