Professional, administrative staff, senior officers to see no salary changes in 2010-2011

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Central Michigan University will not raise salaries for professional and administrative staff and senior officers for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

According to Thursday’s P&A Communicator, a newsletter sent to Professional and Administrative staff and senior officers, the decision was made “after a thoughtful and considerate assessment of the economic outlook, the perpetual decline in state appropriations and the necessity for modest tuition adjustments.”

Maxine Kent, associate vice president of Human Resources, said it was spurred by the high level of financial uncertainty in Michigan, especially at public universities.

“(We) have looked at a number of things to help,” Kent said.

About 70 percent of CMU’s budget costs go toward the salaries and benefits of CMU employees, she said.

More than 700 employees make up the Professional and Administrative staff, which includes academic advisers, resident assistant directors and heads of major units on campus. Senior officers on campus, such as vice presidents, associate vice presidents, deans and associate deans, include about 40 employees across campus.

Kent said several higher education institutions are freezing salaries to help employees in difficult financial times. She said CMU will not implement budget-related layoffs for Professional and Administrative staff and senior officers, assuming the budget scenario does not worsen.

“(We) will not need to lay off employees in order to balance the budget,” Kent said.

Benefits

Professional and administrative staff and senior officers will see a small increase in medical coverage.

CMU is a self-insured institution, and the employees and their families are using preventative services and wellness activities to keep themselves healthy, Kent said.

“(Our) rates for medical went up a very small amount,” she said. “Prescription drugs and dental plans went down, which is very unheard of.”

Currently, Professional and Administrative staff and senior officers pay eight percent of medical, prescription drug and dental coverage.

Employees can choose between two medical coverage plans — a base plan and a less coverage plan. The base will increase 3.2 percent and the less coverage plan will increase 1.2 percent for active employees.

Kent said fewer people select the plan with less coverage. She said CMU’s self-insured premiums are 15 percent lower than premiums of comparable coverage at other universities in Michigan.

She said CMU was moving toward getting employees to pay up to 15-percent premium share. CMU expected to increase employees’ premium share by 1.5 percent for 2009-10, but instead froze the premium share because of the uncertain economy and the delayed decision relative to the 09-10 salary adjustment, Kent said.

“(We) decided to not do that this year,” Kent said. “(We) know many people are struggling.”

Professional and administrative staff and senior officers may choose from several plans -— single, two-person or family coverage. Kent said professional and administrative staff and senior officers have the opportunity to change their plans on May 3.

“It’s a cafeteria plan,” Kent said. “(Employees) go through and they pick a plan.”

Assuming the related employees do not change their health care plans, there will be a very small increase, she said.

For individual medical coverage, there will be a 50-cent increase in monthly payments. For two-person medical coverage plans, the monthly payment will increase $1.06. For family coverage, that cost will increase $1.07.

There are no changes for prescription drug coverage. The monthly plan premium for active employees for both prescription drug plans will decrease by 4.5 percent.

There also are no changes for dental coverage. Monthly plan premiums for active employees for the base plan, which the majority of employees have, will decrease by 8.4 percent.

The higher plan, which includes orthodontist coverage, will decrease by 2.4 percent.

The monthly premium for long-term disability will decrease by 6.25 percent. Life insurance rates will stay the same, Kent said.