SEMO: REGENTS TO TAKE UP '93 BUDGET

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents will consider adopting a $49.87 million operating budget for the 1993 fiscal year when it meets Thursday.

Personnel costs for the fiscal year are budgeted at $36.3 million in salaries and benefits, plus $1.2 million to pay students who work on campus. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Included in the budget are salary hikes for the university's approximately 950 employees, said Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast.

The pay raises include a merit or performance-based component for each employee group, plus a 3 percent across-the-board pay hike for all employee groups except the executive staff.

Recommended increases for the executive staff the university's top administrators would be based solely upon performance evaluations, Wallhausen said.

The average pay hikes for each group, taking into account individuals who are recommended for merit or performance-based adjustments, would be 5.8 percent for faculty; 4.1 percent for administrative and professional staff (middle-level administrators), as well as clerical, technical and service employees; and 4 percent for executive staff.

If the regents approve the pay hikes, the average faculty salary would be $39,146, up from $37,000 this year.

The average salary for the administrative and professional staff would increase from $28,400 to $29,564, Wallhausen said.

Clerical, technical and service (CTS) employees, he said, would see their average salary climb from $13,800 to $14,366.

"Everybody wanted considerably higher increases, but this was all that the budget could stand," said Wallhausen.

University employees received no pay hikes for the current fiscal year because of state funding woes.

Wallhausen emphasized that it's still up to the regents whether to approve the salary package.

"This is just what is being proposed to the regents and they may well have a different view," he said Friday. "This is the best the campus can do. Now it is up to the regents to have their say."

Wallhausen said the salary package follows the recommendations of the university's Budget Review Committee.

The regents will meet at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the University Center Ballroom.

At the meeting, the regents will consider increasing the admission-application processing fee from $10 to $20; raising the textbook rental fee from $9 to $12 per course and removing the present $45 per semester fee cap; imposing a judicial fee to pay some of the costs of the judicial affairs office, which deals with student discipline problems; and increasing incidental fees charged to high school and international English preparatory students who enroll in college courses.

As to the judicial fee, Wallhausen said, "It's kind of like court costs." Under the plan, a student found guilty of violating the code of student conduct would be fined $15; an organization, $100.

Wallhausen said there are costs involved in operating the campus judicial system, including paperwork and hearing-process costs.

Currently, it costs about $18,000 a year to operate the judicial affairs office, which includes the cost of a secretary.

Wallhausen said the proposed judicial fee is "an effort to transfer some of the cost to the user of the system rather than taking it out of tuition and (general) appropriations." He said the fee was recommended by the Budget Review Committee.

As to the incidental fees, the proposal calls for increasing the charge from $10 to $20 a credit hour.

The regents will also be asked to revise the system under which all or part of incidental fees are waived for university employees, their spouses and senior citizens.

The proposal, recommended by the budget committee, would peg fees for employees and senior citizens at a percentage of the regular in-state incidental fees and would eliminate fee waivers for employee spouses.

The regents will also consider the committee's recommendation to eliminate five types of scholarships: Industrial Education, Chemistry Bowl, Biology Bowl, Regents' Outstanding International Student, and Deans' scholarships.

Also on the agenda are proposals to expand the Marvin Rosengarten Athletic Complex; add physician-services to the health services operation; change the name of the academic services division; and move the computer science department to the College of Science and Technology.

Wallhausen said plans call for expanding the athletic services building in stages.

The cost is being borne by private donations raised through the university's capital campaign. But Wallhausen said, "The money is not all in yet."

The regents, he said, are being asked to approve the general concept of proceeding in phases.

As to health services, university officials are seeking permission to take proposals from physicians to provide limited services at the campus clinic.

Many universities have doctors on campus at least part time, Wallhausen said.

"This is really exploratory to see if there is anyone out there interested in doing that," he added.

Under the plan, the university would pay the doctor and then bill the student for the cost. The cost would be paid by students using the service, not by the student body as a whole, he said.

In other business, the regents will hear a progress report on capital improvements for fiscal year 1993 and consider the capital improvements appropriation request for fiscal year 1994.

Scott D. Giles, a sophomore from Jefferson City, is scheduled to be sworn in as the new student regent, a non-voting position on the board.