CAMDEN — The number of state employees whose salaries are at least $100,000 increased by 211 this fiscal year to 2,933 — the largest growth in their ranks in almost a decade.
During the previous seven fiscal years, such growth ranged from 119 in fiscal 2015 to 164 in fiscal 2011.
Most of the increase in the current fiscal 2017 occurred at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where the ranks increased by 146 to 1,400. Previously, UAMS’ growth has ranged from 28 in fiscal 2015 to 80 in fiscal 2011.
“The majority of our growth this year has been in patient care, and this has required us to hire several new physicians and other higher-paid professionals. None of our expansion has involved increased state funding. In fact, our patient care revenue underwrites education and research,” said Leslie Taylor, chief spokesman for UAMS.
The number of workers whose salaries are at least $100,000 at two-year and four-year colleges — other than at UAMS — increased by 65 to 1,148 this fiscal year, while the number of six-figure state employees who work at non-higher-education institutions remained flat at 385.
These figures are based on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s collection earlier this fiscal year of salary information from more than three dozen repositories of state employee data.
Starting in 2003, the newspaper began collecting six-figure salary information in concert with regular legislative sessions, which were held in odd-numbered years. In 2010, the data collection became annual when the Legislature began fiscal sessions in even-numbered years.
The highest-paid state employee continues to be Bret Bielema, whose salary is $4.1 million a year as the head football coach at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The second-highest-paid state employee is Mike Anderson, whose salary is $2.45 million a year as the head men’s basketball coach at UA-Fayetteville.
Bielema’s and Anderson’s boss, Athletic Director Jeff Long, makes about $1 million a year. UA Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz is paid $450,000 a year.
Funding for the 2,933 highest-earning employees comes from a variety of state, federal and private sources, including tuition and fees, hospital billings, athletic department revenue and taxes.
Sen. Larry Teague, a co-chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said he doesn’t “worry so much” about the growth in UAMS’ $100,000-plus salaried employees because “a lot of those are superstar doctors or whatever, and we need to keep them there.”
“By far, the bulk of the money they get comes from their practices,” said Teague, a Democrat from Nashville.
Rep. Lane Jean, who is the other co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, said he has “some concerns” about UAMS’ 146-employee increase in the six-figure salary ranks.
“But I mean health care costs in general is a concern throughout this state and the nation. We’ve got to do something to curb it,” said Jean, a Republican from Magnolia.
Jean said the increased number of employees at two year and four-year colleges largely reflects enrollment growth.
“Since the other institutions have basically been held flat [in state general revenue funds] for years, they are raising their fees on campus and if they are raising their fees too high, you would think their enrollment would start dropping,” he said. “If the board of directors OKs a fee increase on tuition and activity fees and … if they can continue to operate that way and the schools are OK with it and their enrollment is still healthy, that doesn’t concern me as much as what is happening at UAMS financially.”
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the colleges and universities have historically maintained a level of independence in Arkansas.
“Higher education does not have a direct report requirement, so I am unable to exercise the same level of control as I do over other state agencies. Whether there should be greater executive control of higher education is a matter for the legislature to determine,” the Republican governor said in a written statement.
Hutchinson said, “My role in controlling the salary level and number of employees of the state agencies that report directly to me is a function of our hiring freeze,” under which his approval is required for state agencies that he controls to fill vacant positions. While the governor doesn’t have direct control of higher-education institutions, he appoints trustees to the universities’ governing boards when terms expire or trustees leave before their terms end. The Legislature and governor set maximum-authorized salaries for state employees through laws, and they grant some agencies the authority to exceed the limits under certain circumstances.
Last month, Hutchinson signed legislation for the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board to implement a funding formula for two-year and four-year colleges that is based on student success rather than enrollment.
He pledged to seek $10 million more in general revenue for public colleges and universities in fiscal 2019, which starts July 1, 2018, “in order to encourage the change in behavior and the change in priorities and reward those that have success.” He has recommended no increase in their $733.5 million general revenue budget in fiscal 2018, which starts July 1.
UAMS
The 146-employee increase in UAMS reflects the growth of its programs that required hiring more faculty and staffing, Taylor said. Among other things, “this fiscal year, we opened new primary care and orthopedic clinics in central Arkansas. We opened a new Internal Medicine Clinic at our Northwest Regional Campus, and we expanded our services for the Marshallese at the Center for Pacific Islander Health,” she said.
“We opened new family medical centers in Magnolia and Texarkana. And, we are in the process of opening a new primary care clinic at our regional campus in Helena. We continue to work with other hospitals around the state to open new physician residency programs. We also have expanded our affiliation with Baptist Health,” Taylor said.
STATE AGENCIES
Those who make at least $100,000 a year and work at state agencies beyond higher-education institutions remained at 385 this fiscal year — the same level as last fiscal year.
Department of Human Services Director Cindy Gillespie, a former aide to then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is the highest-paid at $280,000 a year.
Education Commissioner Johnny Key, a former Republican state senator from Mountain Home and associate vice president for university relations at the UA system, is the second-highest-paid. His salary is $233,489.
The average salary in the state’s accounting system is now $39,850, and was $39,931 a year at the end of fiscal 2016 on June 30, said Jake Bleed, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration. The employees in the Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System largely don’t work at higher-education institutions.
These employees aren’t getting a cost-of-living raise this fiscal year. So far in fiscal 2017, general revenue collections have lagged behind the forecast, but officials haven’t cut the forecast or budgets.
Hutchinson has proposed a general revenue budget of $5.48 billion in fiscal 2018 for the Legislature to consider in the current session.