Salary philosophy discussed by BBCC board

MOSES LAKE — Faculty salaries, and making sure existing faculty salaries keep pace, was the subject of an extensive discussion at Board of Trustees’ last meeting for Big Bend Community College.

Salaries came up as part of the discussion of a policy setting a philosophy for all employee salaries, first presented to the board at its January meeting. The policy sets the goal of using the statewide community college system, and comparison with community colleges nationally, as one factor in setting salaries for all employees.

One of the ideas behind the policy is to pay people as well as the college can afford, BBCC President Terry Leas said during the January meeting. During Thursday’s meeting, interim Faculty Association president Daneen Berry-Guerin expressed concern that it might affect salaries for existing faculty.

Berry-Guerin highlighted the “turnover savings” fund as a possible focus of concern. Turnover savings are generated when a faculty member retires and new faculty is hired.

Any difference in salaries goes into the turnover savings fund. That’s used to compensate current faculty who are eligible for raises for continuing education and other qualifiers.

Former faculty association president Mike O’Konek expressed concern that some of the money in that fund might be used for new faculty hires, which could disadvantage current faculty.

Leas said he thought it was good to alert the board and administration about the concerns. It’s the intention of college officials to follow the negotiated agreement, which stipulates the turnover savings fund is used for the purpose O’Konek and Berry-Guerin outlined, he said.

In other business, Gail Hamburg, vice-president of financial and administrative services, said college officials will have a good idea by May whether or not a new building proposal will receive design funding in 2015.

The proposal for a new professional-technical building was submitted in February, Hamburg said. Community colleges throughout the state submit projects, which are rated by state officials with the list released in May, she said.

The Washington Legislature will allocate funds for construction projects during the 2015 session, she said, but there’s not enough money to fund all requests. The higher the project is ranked, the better the chance of funding, Hamburg said.

If the project is funded, the college will receive money for the design phase in the 2015-16 budget and for construction in the 2017-18 budget.

College officials submitted a proposal for a 76,140-square-foot building, requesting about $2.8 million for design and about $33.4 million for construction.