2% raises to appear in checks of 27,000

For the first time in three years, most state employees in Arkansas are getting cost-of-living raises in fiscal 2014, which started July 1.

But faculty members at some of the state’s higher-education institutions - including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, and on the University of Arkansas campuses in Fort Smith, Little Rock and Pine Bluff - aren’t getting the 2 percent increase, although their classified employees are, according to officials at those universities.

A decrease in federal funding for research, decreases in Medicare reimbursement rates for patient care, increasing numbers of uninsured patients, a reduction in UAMS’ state funding and uncertainty about the future led to the decision not to give raises to nonclassified employees, a UAMS spokesman said.

In general, classified workers are support personnel, and nonclassified workers are faculty members and administrators.

During this year’s 100-day legislative session, lawmakers provided funding for cost-of-living raises for state employees at most agencies beyond the state’s two- and four-year colleges.

In the 2011 and 2012 legislative sessions - the aftermath of the nation’s most recent recession - lawmakers balked at financing cost-of-living raises for those employees.

This spring, the Legislature enacted a general revenue budget of $4.924 billion for fiscal 2014 - a $197.3 million increase over fiscal 2013 - that mostly followed Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s budget proposal.

Most of the increased funding goes to the state’s Medicaid program and public schools.

State employee salaries are projected to total $3.572 billion in fiscal 2014 - $49 million more than in fiscal 2013 - according to state budget administrator Brandon Sharp.

The state ended fiscal 2012 with 56,879 full-time workers. Fiscal 2013 figures won’t be available until August or September.

More than 27,000 state employees - most of whom work at agencies other than the higher-education institutions and the Highway and Transportation Department - will receive 2 percent raises, which will boost the average annual salary from $38,700 to $39,474, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

Those cost-of-living raises are projected to cost about $8.7 million in general revenue in fiscal 2014, according to the department. The previous cost-of-living raise for these employees was 2 percent in fiscal 2011.

While those employees didn’t receive cost-of-living raises in fiscal 2012 or 2013, most of them received onetime merit bonuses during that period, according to department figures. About 21,870 of them received merit bonuses of up to 3 percent, totaling $19.5 million in fiscal 2012, and about 22,160 received merit bonuses of up to 4.5 percent, totaling $30.3 million in fiscal 2013.

The last time that the state didn’t grant merit raises was in fiscal 2003. The state’s chief fiscal officer, Richard Weiss, and Beebe will decide later whether to authorize one-time merit bonuses in fiscal 2014.

The state Highway Department’s approximately 3,560 employees are getting2 percent cost-of-living raises in fiscal 2014, which will raise the average annual salary by about $725 to about $41,522, said department spokesman Randy Ort.

Those workers’ last cost of-living raise was in fiscal 2011, he said. The Highway Commission authorizes merit bonuses for department employees that are similar to those authorized for most other state employees, he said.

Classified and unclassified employees are receiving raises in fiscal 2014 at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Arkansas at Monticello, and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, according to spokesmen for the colleges.

Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia plans a 2 percent cost-of-living raise for employees to “be released if fall 2013 enrollment is sufficient to fund the increase,” said Paul McLendon, SAU’s vice president for finance. The increase would be funded through tuition and fees because SAU isn’t getting additional state general revenue in fiscal 2014, he explained.

The average salary for all employees at the universities was $44,802, and the average salary for all employees at the two-year colleges was $37,240 in fiscal 2011 - the most recent salary information available from the state Department of Higher Education - said Tara Smith, the department’s senior associate director for institutional finance.

Some of the state’s community colleges are giving raises to classified and unclassified employees; others are giving raises to only classified employees. A few don’t plan to give raises in fiscal 2014, according to their spokesmen.

The state’s two- and four year colleges usually give the same cost-of-living raises to their classified employees that other state agencies do, as long as money is available.

The raises that the universities give faculty members and other nonclassified employees are mostly performance-based and depend on available funding.

UAMS isn’t giving raises to its nonclassified employees - about 9,270 people - but is giving its approximately 1,590 classified employees 2 percent cost-of-living raises, said UAMS spokesman Leslie Taylor.

UAMS’ nonclassified employees include faculty members, nurses, pharmacists, doctors, researchers and information technology personnel. The average salary for those workers is about $65,000 a year, she said. The last time UAMS didn’t give raises to all of those employees was in fiscal 2012, she said. That year people working in non-clinical areas didn’t get raises, she said.

Giving 2 percent raises to those employees would cost UAMS $16 million in fiscal 2014, Taylor said.

“We will take a second look and consider giving raises or one-time bonuses to nonclassified employees in December if we are able,” she said.

The Legislature trimmed UAMS’ general revenue budget by $1.6 million from fiscal 2013 to $94 million in fiscal 2014 as it boosted the overall general revenue budget for the state’s higher-education institutions by $7.4 million to $736.9 million, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

The average annual salary for UAMS’ classified employees - who include administrative support workers, customer-service employees, housekeepers, electricians and clinical aides - is about $27,000, and a 2 percent raise would be an average of $527, she said. Their last raise was in fiscal 2011, she said.

UA-Fayetteville is giving 2.75 percent merit raises to faculty members and other nonclassified employees, said university spokesman Steve Voorhies.

The merit raises for nonclassified employees will cost about $3.8 million, while the 2 percent cost-of-living raises for the classified employees will cost about $430,000, he said.

The average salary for a full professor at the university is $111,500 a year, the average salary for an associate professor is $78,300 and the average salary for an assistant professor is $75,300, Voorhies said.

The school’s general revenue budget increased by $3 million from fiscal 2013 to $119.8 million in fiscal 2014, according to the state finance department.

ASU is giving 3 percent merit raises to faculty members and 2 percent merit raises to other nonclassified employees, said Jeff Hankins, a spokesman for the ASU System.

The faculty raises will cost $1.2 million, the raises for other nonclassified employees will cost about $700,000 and the 2 percent raises for classified employees will cost $503,087, according to Hankins.

ASU’s general revenue budget increased by $1.7 million from fiscal 2013 to $58.5 million in fiscal 2014, according to the finance department.

UALR’s general revenue budget increased by $414,262 from fiscal 2013 to $60.2 million in fiscal 2014, according to the state finance department.

UALR’s 950 unclassified employees aren’t getting raises in fiscal 2014 because “we did not have the dollars” to finance them, said UALR spokesman Judy Williams. The last time that they didn’t get a raise was in fiscal 2010, she said.

Joel Anderson, chancellor at UALR, said he’s not going to blame the Legislature for not providing more funding or the UA board of trustees for not approving higher tuition and fee increases to pay for raises.

“They both made considered judgments [and] after that, as in previous years, it is up to the campus to manage within available resources,” Anderson said.