Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1976 [PAGE 114]

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1974]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

103

for maintaining an environment which makes university management a rewarding professional experience. Sincerely, Warren B. Cheston Chancellor President Corbally expressed appreciation to Mr. Cheston for his services to the University. He further announced that he will soon set in motion procedures for selection of a new Chancellor at Chicago Circle. University Budget for Fiscal Year 1976 T h e President called upon Vice President Brady and Mr. Harlan Bareither, Assistant Vice President for Planning, to provide background information related to the recommendation contained in Agenda Item No. ( 1 ) : Amendment of the Operating Budget Request for Fiscal Year 1976. Messrs. Brady and Bareither presented visual materials related to salary and wage comparisons, and market and peer comparisons of employees at various levels, as well as introductory comments with regard to a "step plan" and its cost for nonacademic employees. T h e "step plan" was included in a general way in the budget presented in September 1974, but to further implement the plan would require changes in the University's General Rules as well as specific authority to implement it from the Board of Trustees. It was made clear that the policy issues will be brought before the Board within the coming months. Following presentation of this information, the President asked the Board to consider and act upon Agenda Item No. ( 1 ) , the text of which follows: Amendment of the Operating Budget Request for Fiscal Year 1976 (1) On September 18, 1974, the Board of Trustees approved an operating budget request for FY 1976 which included salary increase funds in an amount to provide average increases of 9.5 per cent. At that time it was clear that economic conditions continued to be unstable and that, while the assumptions which supported the salary increase request would remain valid, updated information related to those assumptions could change the amounts required to meet salary needs of University personnel. As of this date, a number of new studies have been completed concerning all types of salary levels, and the analysis of the cost-of-living impact by level of salary has been updated for the quarter ending September 30, 1974, and for the year to that date. This analysis shows clearly that the impact of inflation on the "marketbasket comparison" for both the recent quarter and year is between 11.9 per cent and 12-1 per cent. This result is, as expected, not significantly different from the recently published Consumer Price Index. It is also clear from, studies and comparisons which are incorporated into the President's Report at the November 1974 meeting of the Board of Trustees that a deficiency in salary levels for all categories and all campuses exists with respect to state and national levels. It is therefore concluded that any increase of less than 12 per cent will not only cause the University to lag behind the measured cost of living, but indeed