President's Message to Staff: March 2020

MONTHLY COMMUNICATION: March 2020

UNM Staff:

March brings the halfway point in our semester, and with it the steady march to summer. I’m winding down my time as your Staff Council President and I’m reflecting on what we’ve been able to accomplish so far, but never too long because there are so many more things on which we can focus!

Legislative Update
I am so proud of the Staff Council Government Relations Committee and their hard work throughout the 2020 Legislative Session. Through their engagement, we contacted every single New Mexico legislator, meeting in person with many of them, and sent more than 375 postcards (see my email header!) to truly flood the Round House with Lobo Cherry Red!

Looking to the future, I have every expectation that our efforts will increase and that staff will become as present as our faculty and student counterparts. Indeed I hope next year that staff can participate in a capital outlay request in the same ways as our students and faculty.

UNM Budget
One of the most important roles for the Staff Council President is membership on UNM’s Budget Leadership Team (BLT). This team works throughout the year both to address changes to the current fiscal year budget and to propose a budget to the President and the Regents for the next fiscal year. Part of the upcoming fiscal year budget (FY21) is likely going to be a cut to our base budgets. This was driven by a number of factors, but mainly an unrealistic prediction of enrollment for the current fiscal year. The BLT recommended not making a mid-year rescission to keep budgets whole, but it must be addressed moving forward.

We also chose to invest in new initiatives – a research institution must continue to grow – and we recommended a 4% compensation increase for staff and faculty (in-line with the funding from the State of New Mexico). As you’re no-doubt aware, the state of New Mexico does not fully fund compensation for UNM, and so I am pleased that the BLT recommended contributing UNM resources to truly provide a 4% compensation increase. BLT has made its recommendations to President Stokes and the Regents will vote on compensation (along with changes to our tuition and fees structures) on March 9 at their meeting.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to reach out.

Parking Survey
Staff Council has convened a committee to study parking on campus. We’ve heard from many of you that parking is an area where you’d like more clarity and to address this the committee has done intensive research into what is going on at peer institutions. The next step in the process is to hear from you. A number of areas of inquiry have been identified and now we need your feedback. The survey will be available for a limited time and you can complete ithere. It will also be included in our weekly eNews for the next two weeks.

Gateway Center Proposal
Today is the last day to express your opinion on the proposal to use UNM-owned land for the voter-approved Gateway Center. Forums were held and are available here, and the survey can be found here. Be sure to express your views on this important topic.

Salary Tiers and Health Insurance
Last summer, both during the President’s town hall focused on employees and throughout my term as Staff Council President, I have heard from many of you regarding salary tier thresholds as they relate to health insurance. Concern over our current salary tier structure had been voiced numerous times before and there has never really been proper consideration of the issue.

To that end, I asked the Faculty Staff Benefits Committee (FSBC) to examine this for us. This group includes both faculty and staff representation as well as retiree representation. They work with Human Resources and Benefits to review changes to our benefits and they consider all changes and make recommendations.

At my request, they generated a report which I have attached to this email. They have recommended no changes to the existing salary tiers for a number of important reasons. I hope that you will find the information helpful.

I’m extremely grateful for their hard work over the last number of months on this issue, and the work in which they engage throughout the year on numerous benefits-related issues.

The Lobo First-Year Promise
I hope that each of you saw the Lobo First-Year Promise which was announced yesterday. This program aims to provide both opportunity and access to our university for New Mexico students who need it the most.

In-line with Governor Lujan-Grisham’s vision for tuition-free college, UNM will cover tuition and fees for first-time college students, whose families make $50,000 or less, to ensure that academically-talented students can access the world-class education that UNM provides. Read more about the program here, and I encourage you to share this with the amazing students in your lives who might benefit. Staff at UNM can serve as an important recruitment mechanism! We know about the wonderful things happening on campus, and I hope you will share them to help us in our enrollment goals.

As always, I look forward to hearing from many of you during the next month and don’t forget that you can engage with us by following along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Respectfully,

Ryan E. Gregg
Data Manager | Admissions
President | UNM Staff Council
greggr@unm.edu 
scpresident@unm.edu