MUTH’S TRUTHS

For comparative purposes, consider that the governor of the state of Nevada is the guy (and someday gal) who is in charge of a whole mess of departments and programs, including the university system. We’re talking about transportation, K-12 education, health and human services, agriculture, business and industry, corrections, economic development, motor vehicles, wildlife, public safety, and even cultural affairs (ripe for cuts, Guv!).

And for running that entire kit and caboodle, the governor gets paid an annual salary of…$144,000.

Now compare that to how much our taxpayer-funded public university executives get paid.

Um, well, it’s not that easy.

You see, you can’t just go to the Nevada System of Higher Education webpage and look up the public salaries of these public employees. No, you have to call the system and ask for the information. Then, if my experience yesterday is any indication, you’ll be transferred to seven different people before being told that “someone will get back to you with the information.”

I’m still sitting by the phone waiting for that phone call.

You see, this is the first and foremost problem I have with Chancellor Rogers claiming there’s nowhere to cut his budget. Apparently, we’re just supposed to take his word for it. Sorry, Charlie. I want to see the checkbook. I want to see a listing of every disbursement showing to whom it was paid, for what purpose and for what amount. Just a little transparency, that’s all.

In addition, let’s post every consultant’s and public employee’s compensation package - including bonuses and benefits - on the system’s website so we, the taxpaying public, can easily find it without having to talk to seven different people before being blown off.

Fortunately, I’m not one to be deterred by a little bureaucratic foot-dragging. So I did a little research on my own. And I found a Las Vegas Sun story from June 2006 on the high pay of higher education executives. Just remember as you read the following how much the state’s chief executive - the governor - gets paid.

The university presidents for both UNLV and UNR, according to the Sun story, are paid $230,000 each, which is almost twice what the governor is paid.

But as they say on those late-night infomercials, “that’s not all.” Those salaries “are supplemented with an additional $170,000 from the university foundations.” That means the chief executives of two schools who work for state’s chief executive are making $256,000 more than the guy they work for.

Nah, nothing to cut there, right?

Of course, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Rosenberg will jump all over the fact that a significant portion of these public employees’ salaries are funded by a private foundation. But that in itself raises another disturbing question: Who do these folks answer to, the taxpaying public or the private foundation? As we all know without ever taking a higher education “Culture of Pizza” course, a canine-American can’t serve two masters.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, this is interesting. The dean of the School or Medicine makes over $405,000. That’s more than the college presidents themselves make and almost THREE TIMES what the governor, who oversees all of them, makes. But no, nothing to cut there, right?

And then there’s the salary taxpayers are paying for the VICE Dean of the School of Medicine. Vice, as in assistant. This guy is hauling down $296,926. More than double the governor’s salary. For being a second banana. Nice work if you can get it. And surely no room to cut there.

Oh, here’s another good one. The guy Jim Rogers hired to head up the planning for the proposed Nevada Health Sciences Center - not the running of, the PLANNING of - is pulling down a cool quarter-mil. Nope. Nothing to cut there.

And then there’s the $190,000 salary paid to Jim Rogers’ executive vice chancellor, whose job duties include lobbying the Legislature for more money from Nevada taxpayers to pump into the university system. We sure can’t cut that now, can we?

And what discussion of the finances of the Nevada System of Higher EDUCATION would be complete without mentioning the $230,000 salary being paid to the UNR athletic director and the $225,000 salary being paid to the UNLV athletic director? Neither of which is even CLOSE to what these two schools pay their football and basketball coaches? Cut-able? Don’t EVEN go there!

Note that these figures are over a year old. Who knows how much more these folks are being paid today? If I ever get that return phone call, I’ll let you know.

How was that for sarcasm and scorn, Regent Rosenberg?

Tomorrow: The Ultimate Jim Rogers Challenge. You’re gonna love this one.

UPDATE ( December 14, 2007): I finally heard from someone at the university system this morning on my request for current salary information on executive staff at UNR and UNLV. I was informed that the information isn’t readily and easily available for the public to review on the Nevada System of Higher Education’s website. For a member of the public to get that kind of public information you have to suffer the time-consuming inconvenience of filing an official written public records request with each campus.

Really makes you wonder what they’re trying so desperately to hide, doesn’t it?

Posted on December 13th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada