HONOLULU (AP) — The University of Hawaii president is seeking approval to raise the pay of some executives by a total of $1 million.
The raises cover 182 of the 221 executive and managerial employees across the system that make up 3 percent of the employees and 6 percent of the payroll, including vice presidents, campus chancellors, deans and program directors, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports (http://bit.ly/1NtxTmd).
UH officials say those nonunionized executives have not seen a salary increase in seven years.
“The proposed increases weren’t just given carte blanche,” said UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl. “The majority of the increases were based on performance reviews and were only given to those who received an outstanding or superior rating. . These increases are an attempt to match the pay raises and increases that the rest of university’s faculty and staff have received as the state recovered from the recession.”
The adjustments, which average about 3.5 percent increases, must be approved by the Board of Regents, which has to approve university salaries of $150,000 or more. If the board approves the 81 raises that exceed that threshold the raises would be retroactive to July 1.
“The setting of salaries is a very careful and managed process that is done with great deliberation to make sure UH remains competitive in a highly competitive market,” Meisenzahl said. “We want to continue to be a top tier 1 research institution. If you look at this from a national scale, we are getting a bargain from extremely qualified individuals. We’re talking about people who are making critically important decisions every day at the University of Hawaii.”