Ithaca College

I am pleased to announce that the Board of Trustees decided at its fall meeting to create a one-time compensation program for staff and faculty employees, to be funded from the anticipated operating balance in the current year (FY2009-2010). They took this action upon recommendation of the Ithaca College Budget Committee, which I endorsed and forwarded to the trustees.

Eligible employees will receive a one-time payment based upon $500 per person plus 1 percent of base pay. The minimum payment to any one full-time individual will be $750, and the maximum payment will be $1,500. This way of calculating the payment ensures that those employees at the lower end of our salary scale will receive a higher percentage of their annual salary than those who are more highly compensated. For part-time employees, payment will be prorated based on the fraction of time in their work schedule. Payments will be made on Friday, October 16, by noon as a separate payment to eligible individuals. This payment will follow an individual's preferred method for receiving his or her pay (direct deposit or paycheck). If an individual receives a physical check, it will be delivered to the individual's department or office by noon.

Eligible staff include those who were affected by the salary freeze this year and who have a full-time regular appointment, a part-time regular appointment, or a temporary assignment on an ongoing basis. Eligible faculty include those who have a full-time regular continuing appointment; a part-time adjunct appointment; or a full-time, one-year assignment that has continued from last year to the current one. Faculty or staff hired on or after June 1, 2009, are not covered, nor are faculty holding part-time, per-course appointments; part-time coaches appointed with a special compensation structure; and those who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.  

Combined with the restoration of employer TIAA-CREF contributions to 8.75 percent and the reaffirmation of our policy of paying at least fifty cents per hour above the living wage, this brings the total added compensation expenditures from this year's operating budget to $1.9 million. The Board of Trustees joins me in celebrating the excellent financial results that enable Ithaca College to reduce the impact of this year's salary freeze on faculty and staff.