The Student Fee Committee voted Monday to give a combined amount of nearly $30,000 in salary increases from student fees to two unclassified staff positions.
The 2005-06 SFC originally approved the salary increases for the 2005-06 fiscal year for Alex Accetta, coordinator of campus recreation, and Tonantzin Oceguera, director of Student Activities and Leadership Programs (SALP). Because the SFC approved the increase last year but could not directly delegate funds for this year, the current SFC approved the salary increases again for the 2007 fiscal year.
The approval increased Accetta’s salary from $40,008 to $52,008 and increased Oceguera’s salary from $45,000 to $56,016. Funded from the SFC discretionary reserve, $14,211 was released for SALP, and $15,481 for campus recreation.
Each reserve release from student fees paid for Accetta’s and Oceguera’s salaries and other fees associated with the salaries. The SFC spends $311,331 in classified and unclassified salaries for SALP each year and $131,344 in classified and unclassified salaries for campus recreation.
Dean of Students Wendy Endress, who submitted the original salary increase proposal, said that last year the SFC was only willing to take money from the 2006 reserve to pay for that year’s increase, leaving the current SFC to approve the discretionary reserve request for the current year.
The decision to release the funds was passed without debate, and SFC Chair Madeline Enos said in Monday’s meeting that it “seems reasonable.”
”This is something that’s already been honored,” SFC member Rudy Soto said. “It’s a matter of filling in the commitment.”
Endress said the salaries for Accetta and Oceguera are now in line with the comparable positions at the other Oregon University System schools. She said another reason she submitted the request is because of the growth of campus recreation and SALP.
The discretionary reserve is made of funds set aside during the annual budget process to fund unique and non-reoccurring requests. Endress said that the salary reserve is designated for planned salary increases and would not accommodate the special salary increases for Oceguera and Accetta.
Earlier this year, student employee stipends were increased by 10 percent across the board for every paid student group. Oceguera’s salary increased by 24 percent and Accetta’s increased by 30 percent.
Soto said that if the request were new and if the 2005-06 SFC had not already set precedent, this year’s SFC would have examined the request more closely.
”I think that we definitely would have deliberated on it more if it was brand new coming to us,” Soto said. “This was kind of a stipulation that was put on us to honor something that was already made. If this was brand new we might have dealt with it differently.”
Student body President Courtney Morse said she is confused about why the funds released came from the discretionary reserve and not the salary reserve. She said the discretionary reserves are in place for emergencies and to protect all student groups.
The SFC salary reserve for this fiscal year is $268,000 and the SFC discretionary reserve totals $115,000. The funds released from the SFC Monday will use 25 percent of the discretionary reserve.
Morse said that a closer look at the issue of adequate compensation is important. Fiscal responsibility, she said, is important to make sure that resources remain to adequately fund the university. She said she is confused by the urgency of this drastic compensation and she thinks this year’s SFC was bound by the decisions of last year’s.
”It is extremely important that we examine the urgency of compensation of the basic needed funds [for the university],” Morse said.