By Larry B. Dendy
The Georgia General Assembly's approval of an average 6 percent pay-raise pool for University System personnel should keep Georgia in the upper tier of salaries among Southeastern states.
The legislature's action fulfilled a pledge Gov. Zell Miller made following his re-election in 1994 to provide four consecutive years of average 6 percent raises for faculty and staff at the state's public colleges and universities. This compounds to a total increase of 26 percent over the period.
Georgia's faculty salaries climbed from ninth place in 199091 to fourth place in 199697 among major research institutions in the 15-state Southern Regional Education Board.
As part of the legislative negotiations, pay raises for 12-month University System employees will be effective Sept. 1 rather than the traditional July 1.
The pay raise is one highlight of a $12.5 billion budget passed by the General Assembly that includes a number of features that benefit UGA and its employees.
The budget also provides planning money for a new student-learning center; funding for a biotechnology research center operated by the Georgia Research Alliance; funds for a new livestock teaching arena; and strong support for the redirected research and service programs in agriculture, forestry and family and consumer sciences.
"The General Assembly and the governor, again this year, demonstrated their commitment to strengthening higher education in Georgia," says President Michael Adams. "We appreciate this strong show of support, and we pledge that the University of Georgia will continue to be diligent in using these resources for the betterment of our state."
Legislators approved $1.7 mil-lion for planning and design of a student-learning center that will probably be located near the Tate Student Center. The new center, expected to cost about $43 million, will include classrooms, advanced teaching technology and space for library access and student activities.
The legislature also approved $880,000 in planning funds for the Gwinnett Center, a new facility in Gwinnett County that will be operated jointly by UGA and DeKalb College.
As part of funding for the Georgia Research Alliance, the budget includes about $11 million for the Applied Genetic Technology Resource Center. UGA scientists will use the facility to conduct advanced research on the genetic structure of plants and animals.
The budget funds a redirection plan for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that is designed to help address the emerging needs and opportunities for agriculture and agribusiness in the 21st century. It also provides $609,000 for maintenance, operation and utility costs at agricultural experiment stations. The appropriation also includes $4.9 million for a livestock instructional arena for the animal and dairy science department, the centerpiece for the new animal-sciences campus on South Milledge Avenue.
Other major UGA items in the budget include more than $550,000 for research in the School of Forest Resources; $366,000 for the Center for Democratic Government, a program in the Vinson Institute of Government; $250,000 for outreach programs in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, designed to help families, particularly those seeking work outside the home; and state matching funds for a sixth Georgia Research Alliance eminent scholar position at UGA.
Many university employees will be able to either move up their retirement date, or increase their retirement pay, under a bill passed by the General Assembly that allows unused sick leave to be applied toward retirement benefits.
The plan is a version of a bill Rep. Louise McBee of Athens has pushed in the legislature for several years. Under the plan, people with 60 or more days of unused sick leave can convert that leave into creditable service at the rate of one month of service for every 40 days of unused leave.
The service can't be used to reach the minimum 10-year service credit required for vesting in the retirement system, but can count toward reaching a retirement date, or as additional service credit for calculating monthly retirement checks.
Carlton James, associate vice president for human resources, says the Teachers Retirement System board of directors is developing procedures to implement the sick leave-to-retirement plan. Details will be announced before it goes into effect July 1.
James says employees who retire on or after July 1, 1998, are eligible.
Legislators appropriated $5.7 million for the plan, which will fund the formula of 40 leave days for one month of service. However, James says the legislation, which affects only those employees in the TRS, is written so that additional funding could be added in the future to decrease the number of leave days necessary for a month of service.
