MCC administrators get 3 percent raises
McHenry County College administrators were given 3-percent raises for the current academic year in order to make salaries more competitive, college officials said.
The raises affect 33 administrators who were hired before July 1, while nine administrators who were hired after July 1 will not get raises, MCC President Vicky Smith said. The raises were approved by the board last month and amount to about $81,000 overall, she said.
Also, administrative pay ranges for fiscal year 2011-12 will be increased to match the consumer price index increase for the previous fiscal year, or 3.6 percent, she said.
Last year, administrators got 2.5-percent raises, while they got 1.1 percent raises in 2008 and 2009, Smith said.
Members of the college's Staff Council union, which represents the college's professional and classified staff, opposed the administrators' raises. The union's new contract, approved by the board in October, calls for 2-percent raises for the current fiscal year and the next, and 2.25-percent raises in 2013-14.
During negotiations, “The staff was constantly reminded of the current hard economic times as well as the college's inability to justify and provide competitive salary increases for staff,” said union area representative Scott Waltmire.
“They couldn't justify 3 percent (raises) for the union, but they can justify it for themselves,” he said, declining to say what the union deems a fair raise, if any, for administrators.
Smith pointed out that Staff Council union members got 5.5-percent raises from 2007 to 2011. Faculty members got 5.18-percent raises each year for the last three years, she said.
“We are losing administrators because they just drive to Harper College for $30,000 more, they drive to Elgin (Community College) for $20,000 more,” she said. “Our salaries are so far below the four surrounding colleges,” which also include Rock Valley College and College of Lake County.
Board President Mary Miller said the board had been “very stingy” in the past regarding raises for administrators.
“We were having a lot of issues at the college, issues with the way the college was run, which falls on the administration,” she said. “Now we have Dr. Smith at the helm, and she's steering the ship right.”