The state Board of Regents indicated at its Sept. 17 meeting that it is considering pay-for-performance bonuses for the three state universities’ presidents. UI President Sally Mason’s bonus, for fiscal 2010, would total $80,000. Her performance has been adequate under very tough circumstances, and it might warrant a bonus if these were normal times. But the state is in the midst of economic malaise, and revenue is falling.
Consequently, the regents should forgo awarding Mason a bonus unless the economic climate improves drastically.
Regent Robert Downer said Monday that the regents likely won’t decide whether to grant Mason a bonus until next August, and the economy would be a determining factor and could potentially alter that time frame.
The pay-for-performance bonuses are part of the presidents’ general compensation packages. The regents award the bonuses if the presidents satisfy agreed-upon goals. Mason needed to meet eight goals in order to qualify for a bonus in fiscal 2009. Those goals included restoring basic utility services at such flooded sites as the English-Philosophy Building and IMU, filling high-ranking officer positions, and establishing a new sexual-assault policy and investigative processes. The benchmarks for fiscal 2010 will be analogous.
Iowa’s fiscal years run from July 1 to June 31; the current fiscal year is 2010.
Downer said Mason was eligible for the bonus last fiscal year, but she refused it because of economic conditions. The money from the fiscal 2010 budget would have paid for Mason’s bonus if she had received one.
In addition, she was initially supposed to receive a $25,000 to $30,000 pay hike in fiscal 2008, Downer said. But regents backed out of the bonus because of the UI’s perceived mishandling of an alleged Hillcrest sexual-assault. Downer also said the regents agreed to include the pay raise amount in Mason’s fiscal 2009 bonus if she met the agreed-upon goals. UI spokesman Tom Moore said the additional $25,000 to $30,000 was one of the reasons Mason’s potential bonus was $80,000 — higher than her UNI and ISU counterparts’ possible bonuses.
The economy should be the biggest factor in determining whether Mason should receive a fiscal 2010 bonus. She hasn’t been an exemplary president, but many of the issues the UI has faced under her tenure have been beyond her control. She has raised a significant amount of money for the UI and managed flood-recovery efforts adequately. The university’s handling of the aforementioned sexual-assault case was flawed, but regents appear to be satisfied with her overall performance.
Under better times, a potential bonus wouldn’t be out of the question.
But the economy is still stagnant. The state’s unemployment rate is 6.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and that number could worsen. Last month’s tax receipts dropped by around $26 million compared with the previous August, according to the Legislative Services Agency.
The university is having an equally difficult time as it is subjected to budget cuts and tuition increases. Teaching assistants, as well as members of the UI’s research community, are experiencing hiring freezes. Mason’s $80,000 bonus doesn’t seem much compared with her $445,000 salary, but it could save a few jobs. In addition, awarding an $80,000 bonus would reflect poorly on the university from a purely symbolic standpoint. If the university is cutting, Mason’s bank account shouldn’t simultaneously be expanding.
The regents should consider withholding her bonus if the economy doesn’t improve, regardless of her performance. That’s only fair to the TAs and professors who could be rejected for employment or laid off because of budget constraints.