Lesser pay rise for N.D. university execs

BISMARCK — North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education decided Friday to give four top university system executives smaller pay raises next year.

The board’s president, Richie Smith, and the university system’s chancellor, William Goetz, wanted 4 percent pay rises for three vice chancellors and the top attorney in the university system’s central office.

However, board members voted 5-3 on Friday to whittle the raises to 3 percent for Pat Seaworth, the university system’s general counsel, and its three vice chancellors, Michel Hillman, Laura Glatt and Marsha Krotseng.

The lesser increase will mean $1,170 to $1,598 less in salary for the four executives during the university system’s next budget year, which began July 1.

Hillman, who is vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, will be paid $164,685. Glatt, who oversees administrative affairs, will be paid $158,556. Krotseng, the vice chancellor for strategic planning and director of the College Technical Education Council, will get $147,602. Seaworth’s salary for the next year is $120,470.

Hillman, Krotseng and Seaworth declined comment Friday. Glatt did not respond to a request for comment. The board has already voted a 4 percent increase for Goetz, whose annual salary rose to $208,000 this month.

“We know that a considerable amount of time was spent during this last (legislative) session on this particular issue, and I ... don’t want to see this as an issue that we have to address again,” board member Grant Shaft said.

Board member Mike Haugen said he believed it was unfair to single out the four.

“I think we’re doing it on a very, very, very small group of individuals to demonstrate a point that we’re fiscally responsible,” Haugen said.

While the 2009 Legislature was drafting the university system’s two-year budget, senators included language imposing a two-year pay freeze on Goetz, Seaworth and the three vice chancellors. It was stripped out before the final spending plan was approved.

Sen. Raymon Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the move reflected lawmakers’ unhappiness with university budget maneuvering that took place after the 2007 Legislature adjourned.

At the time, Holmberg said,the university system’s central office engineered budget transfers to finance larger-than-normal raises for top administrators.

The 2009 Legislature’s final budget included money to finance 5 percent pay increases for state workers this year and next, although lawmakers said the pay package did not require across-the-board raises. The Board of Higher Education’s salary guidelines for this year say employees should get a minimum 5 percent increase.

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