FAYETTEVILLE — Getting money for raises at the University of Arkansas is a tall order when the state’s facing a shortfall of up to $400 million in Medicaid, said state representative candidate Micah Neal of Springdale.

Neal was one of eight candidates for state Legislature who came to a forum hosted by the University of Arkansas Staff Senate. The first question asked of the panel was about the prospect for raises for staff in the next legislative session.

Any raises will first target university staff making less than $50,000 a year, Republican candidates replied. Democrats expressed support for raises in general. Attending the panel were: Republicans Neal, Randy Alexander of Springdale, Paul Graham of Farmington, Justin Harris of Prairie Grove and Charlie Collins of Fayetteville, plus Fayetteville Democrats David Whitaker, Adella Gray and Rep. Uvalde Lindsey. Lindsey is unopposed for state Senate. The rest are running for the House.

Alexander said there were 68 working full time on the university staff whose pay put them below the federal poverty line when he left as the university’s director of student housing. The needs of lower-paid employees should be addressed first. Harris said he supported that priority and had advocated that in the last fiscal session of the Legislature.

The university could largely address its salary issues if it were not constricted by a budget process that set the limits on staff pay for classified employees, chancellor David Gearhart told the panel. “Classified employees” are those falling under the state’s Uniform Classification and Compensation Act, which range from clerical workers to computer technicians to technicians at the university’s research farms.

Less than half the university’s budget comes from its state appropriation, Gearhart said. The institution could shift its budget and put more money into salaries if the state allowed it, he said.

“It’s not a university problem. It is a state-mandated problem,” Gearhart said

Getting some flexibility in the budget is difficult when the state 11 four-year institutions and 22 two-year colleges all have their advocates in the legislature, Lindsey said. The bigger problem though is that the state has a bigger higher education system than it can afford, Lindsey said.

In another issue, Republicans supported a proposed state law by Collins to allow university staff who have conceal carry permits for handguns to bring their guns to campus. Democrats opposed it.

“I adamantly oppose this, and if elected will do everything I can to send this to the scrap heap of stupid ideas,” Whitaker said.