REGENTS OK PAY INCREASES, TRIM BUDGET

Southeast Missouri State University employees, including President Ken Dobbins, will get pay raises this year, and there won't be a midyear tuition hike to pay for it.

The university will cut more than $2.3 million in costs by delaying hirings, maintenance projects and equipment purchases under a revised operating budget approved by the board of regents on Wednesday. The budget now stands at more than $105 million.

The board approved pay hikes averaging 2 percent for the university's 1,200 employees and later in closed session rewarded Dobbins with nearly a 3 percent raise.

Don Dickerson, board president, said the regents hiked Dobbins' salary by $4,000. The university president will make $140,500 this fiscal year.

The regents also added $1,500 to his retirement annuity that puts the retirement benefit at $20,000 a year, gave Dobbins another week of vacation -- bringing the total to four weeks -- and extended his contract through June 30, 2004.

Dobbins initial contract would have expired next June 30.

"I think Kenny is doing a fine job," Dickerson said. "I think it is a hard job. He puts in lots and lots of hours." The pay raise and added benefits amount to a reward for his job performance, Dickerson said.

Dobbins couldn't be reached for comment.

Pay raises for the school's other employees will cost the university about $1 million.

Non-teaching staff will receive pay raises of just over 2 percent over the next 11 months because their pay year began July 1 and they didn't receive the raise for that month. The pay year for faculty began Wednesday.

Postponing replacements

The regents cut more than $2.3 million from the budget. The cost-cutting includes postponing the replacement of computers, a major concern to students who increasingly depend on computers in university labs to do their classwork.

Kathy Mangels, university controller, said the university tries to replace a quarter of its PCs every year. Not doing so this year means the university may have to look at replacing half of its PCs next year, she said.

That concerns students like Megan Wagner. Many students use university computers in the labs, she said.

A senior, Wagner uses a university computer in the office of The Capaha Arrow, the student newspaper, where she works as business manager.

Like many students, Wagner doesn't own a computer.

"Students expect computers in the computer labs to be up-to-date," she said. "They want to be able to get their information fast."

Students can't get a degree without using computers these days, she said. "It is essential. It is not just for typing a paper or report you have to turn in."

Class discussion often takes place on computer and professors communicate assignments and other information to students via electronic mail, she said.

Dickerson said the university can't postpone computer upgrades too long.

He and other regents said the board may have to consider larger tuition hikes in future years to fund the growing university.

Other action

In other action, the regents voted to issue $31.3 million in bonds to fund the $14 million construction of a new residence hall on Henderson Avenue and refund an older series of bonds that financed improvements to the Towers residence halls. Refunding will save the university about $40,000 annually in debt service costs over the next 20 years.

The regents also moved ahead with planning for a River Campus museum, hiring Jacobs Facilities, an architectural and engineering firm, and Lord Inc., a museum consulting firm. The contract still must be finalized, but it will be funded from a $2.6 million federal grant.

The architectural and consulting work will take only a small part of the federal funds. Most of the grant will go to hire museum staff and pay for equipment and outreach efforts, university officials said. The museum would be built on the grounds of a former Catholic seminary in Cape Girardeau where the university plans to develop an arts school.

The entire development is expected to cost about $36 million. Much of the public focus has been on the proposed arts school and performing hall.

But Dickerson said the museum could be the biggest draw. "The museum perhaps is the sleeper in the whole project," he said.