State employee raises include extra funds for some chancellors
State employees were granted raises for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and certain chancellors received greater raises than the state minimum so that they could have competitive market salaries, according to UNC System President Margaret Spellings.
July 30, 2016
Sixteen UNC system chancellors have had pay raises approved for the 2016-2017 school year by the UNC Board of Governors.
Including UNC Wilmington’s Chancellor Jose Sartarelli, nine of the 16 chancellors received raises of 1.5 percent. Chancellor Sartarelli now makes $355,250 for his position at the university.
Some of the highest paid chancellors within the UNC system were granted the most in raises. North Carolina State University’s Chancellor William Woodson and UNC Chapel Hill’s Carol Folt earned the highest pay raises with a 4.6 percent increase, increasing their salaries to $617,376 and $596,448, respectively.
N.C. Central University’s Chancellor Debra Saunders also earned a 4.6 percent pay raise, giving her $345,313 a year. The highest raise was awarded to Chancellor Phillip Dubois of UNC Charlotte.
The raises also award 1.5 percent increases in salary for state employees through the state budget.
These raises come almost a year after the Board of Governors granted a round of raises for chancellors in the UNC system as well.
12 UNC system chancellors earned between eight and 16 percent pay raises in November of 2015, according to Jane Stancill of the Charlotte Observer.
During that round of pay raises, NCSU’s chancellor made off with a 13.46 percent raise and UNC-CH’s with a 9.62 percent pay raise. Chancellor Sartarelli’s was unchanged at that time.
Pay raises were granted based on comparison with other universities, according to UNC President Margaret Spellings, instead of on personal performance.
Spellings said that these raises are not based on individual performance because they center more on the competitive nature of these positions. She finds that these raises will provide chancellors with competitive market salaries.
The Board of Governors discussed these pay raises at a two-hour-long closed meeting this past Friday.
“We learned a lot of lessons last year,” said Lou Bissette, chairman of the UNC Board, “and I think this board is now moving towards more transparency in just about everything we do.”
After the closed meeting, the Board released documents detailing the chancellors’ raises, unlike the raises awarded in 2015, prior to which they had a closed meeting and refused to release information.
