Employees of state may see 5 percent raise

Nicole Darnall, a professor of public administration at N.C. State University, is leaving home.

After four years at N.C. State, she and her husband, Ashwin Hirani, are leaving their home in Carrboro for George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

For Darnall, the move isn’t about moving to a better institution, gaining a higher position or finding a better place to live.

She just wants to get paid.

“It is almost exclusively 100 percent about resources,” Darnall said.

She isn’t alone. Throughout the UNC system, schools struggle to recruit and retain faculty because of subpar salary and benefits.

But the N.C. General Assembly could take steps to change that. Despite the difficult budget year, a House bill proposes a 5 percent raise for all state employees — including UNC-system faculty, who aren’t usually part of such proposals.

“It’s something that’s been due for a long time,” said Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake, sponsor of the bill. “We’ve been shortchanging the state employees. They haven’t been getting the salary increases they need.”

While the need is evident, revenue is scarce, said Steve Allred, UNC-Chapel Hill executive associate provost. Last year, the University lost 30 percent of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty it sought to retain; the previous year, it lost 60 percent.

State-sponsored salary hikes for faculty have been minimal during the past four years — just $625 in 2001-02, none in 2002-03 and 2.5 percent in 2004-05. Faculty also were given a one-time bonus of $550 in 2003-04.

While any increase is welcome news for the system’s Board of Governors, system lobbyist Mark Fleming said the proposed 5 percent might not be enough.

In this year’s budget requests, the BOG asked for a 7.5 percent raise in academic salaries during each of the next two years.

“This is a problem that is going to take a few years to address and make us really competitive,” Fleming said.

And Darnall scoffed at the idea of a 5 percent increase. “(My new job) is a 40 percent difference in salary,” she said. “Five percent is a joke.”

In addition, George Mason will greatly improve her benefits.

While N.C. State only provided Darnall with a computer, George Mason gave her a sizable budget for research, technology and even graduate students.

Health care and child care also will be available for her family. “The health benefits here absolutely suck,” Darnall said. She said it was more expensive for her husband to be included on N.C. State’s health plan than for him to buy his own.

But in such a tight budget atmosphere, officials say, the bill likely won’t pass. “What I really don’t know is at the end of the day what money will really be there,” said Judith Wegner, UNC-CH faculty chairwoman.

In the end, the salary and the benefits are enough to tear Darnall from the home she loves.

“We don’t want to leave,” she said. “We love it here so much.”

Staff Writer Carolyn Sorock contributed to this article.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.