{"id":142872,"date":"2016-04-08T11:14:20","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T17:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=142872"},"modified":"2016-04-10T12:56:13","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T18:56:13","slug":"proposed-cuts-to-employee-benefits-stir-controversy-at-nmsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/04\/proposed-cuts-to-employee-benefits-stir-controversy-at-nmsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed cuts to employee benefits stir controversy at NMSU"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_142880\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-142880\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CampusHealthCenter-771x479.jpg\" alt=\"Campus Health Center\" width=\"771\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CampusHealthCenter-771x479.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CampusHealthCenter-336x209.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CampusHealthCenter-768x477.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CampusHealthCenter-1170x726.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CampusHealthCenter.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Billy Huntsman \/ The Round Up<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The most contentious proposed cut seems to be the Employee Health Services center, which is housed within the Student Health Center and staffed by the same personnel. It offers free or low-cost medical services to NMSU employees.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>New Mexico State University has to eliminate more than $10 million from its budget due to\u00a0a deficit caused by decreased funding from the state Legislature and a decrease in student enrollment &#8212; and not lessened by the Board of Regents voting this week <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcsun-news.com\/story\/news\/education\/nmsu\/2016\/04\/04\/nmsu-regents-say-no-tuition-hike\/82639018\/\" target=\"_blank\">against a tuition increase proposal<\/a> for the 2016-2017 school year.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed 4.1 percent tuition hike would have decreased the deficit to $7.4 million. The regents unanimously disapproved this proposal on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article was produced by <a href=\"http:\/\/nmsuroundup.net\/2016\/04\/08\/proposed-program-cuts-stir-controversy-at-nmsu\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Round Up\/Oncore Magazine<\/a>, New Mexico State University\u2019s student-run news organization. It\u2019s published here as part of <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/nmpolitics-net-and-nmsus-round-up-announce-partnership\/\" target=\"_blank\">a partnership<\/a> between The Round Up\/Oncore Magazine and NMPolitics.net.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThere is no way around trying to eliminate $10.7 million,\u201d NMSU Provost Dan Howard said at an Employee Benefit Council meeting on Thursday. \u201cAny cut we take at this point is going to hurt. That\u2019s the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most contentious proposed cut seems to be the Employee Health Services center (EHS). EHS is housed within the Student Health Center and staffed by the same personnel. It offers the same free or low-cost medical services to NMSU employees.<\/p>\n<p>Howard said this cut is being considered because EHS services are not \u201ccentral\u201d to NMSU\u2019s instruction and guidance mission \u2014 which is to teach, research and serve.<\/p>\n<p>EHS costs NMSU about $828,000 a year, at about $165 per employee visit, Howard said.<\/p>\n<p>The services provided by EHS can be made up by employees\u2019 health-care plans, Howard said.<\/p>\n<h3>State plan or self-funded?<\/h3>\n<p>But employee health-care plans may also\u00a0change in order to save money. Right now NMSU employees have medical, dental, and vision coverage under the State of New Mexico\u2019s health-care plan, through which\u00a0the university pays high yearly premium costs in order for employees to have low copays whenever they visit the doctor.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The alternative to the state\u2019s plan is to go the \u201cself-funded\u201d route, where individual employees design health-care plans that are best for them and their dependents. Through this route, employees can still choose preferred provider organizations (PPO) plans, though at higher individual, rather than collective, costs.<\/p>\n<p>A pro to this plan would be\u00a0that fixed costs would be reduced \u2014 employees could decide if they want high yearly premiums or high copays.<\/p>\n<p>But a con to this plan is that the number of employees who get sick each year would likely fluctuate, which would make NMSU\u2019s costs fluctuate as well. Another con that became apparent during the Thursday\u00a0meeting was that, if NMSU decides to go with self-funded plans, EHS will also\u00a0be eliminated.<\/p>\n<p>A pro to maintaining the state\u2019s plan at NMSU is that, if EHS were eliminated, NMSU is currently in talks with the State Risk Management agency about establishing a free clinic within Las Cruces, similar to the Stay Well Health Center in Santa Fe, which state-plan-covered employees can visit at no- or low-copay costs and receive no- or low-cost prescriptions.<\/p>\n<p>Another con is that any money that could be saved by NMSU going the self-funded route, which has the potential to be cheaper than the state&#8217;s health plan but puts the university at full liability for any claims filed, might not be saved if the university has a high number of employees who put in claims. If this is the case, it may make more fiscal sense to remain on the state&#8217;s health plan, thereby making the state&#8217;s health-care provider fully liable for all claims.<\/p>\n<p>NMSU switched from self-funded plans\u00a0to the state\u2019s plan back in September 2006 after reaching an agreement with the state for reduced costs if EHS saw patients from nearby counties, mostly dealing with workman\u2019s comp issues.<\/p>\n<p>NMSU continued to fund EHS with what&#8217;s called I&amp;G funding \u2014 Student Health Services, of course,\u00a0paid for by students\u2019 tuition and fees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat should have happened is that (we) should have asked the state to come in and fund (EHS) themselves,\u201d Howard said. \u201cWhich is what we\u2019re now doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Doing so now, Howard said, will save both the state and NMSU money.<\/p>\n<p>Howard said part of the negotiations currently ongoing about maintaining the state\u2019s health-care plan is for the state to utilize the EHS space at the Campus Health Center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should have asked (the state) to pick (EHS) up a long time ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h3>Not essential to university\u2019s mission?<\/h3>\n<p>The Campus Health Center\u2019s psychiatric nurse practitioner, Vicki Alvarez, said she \u201cfervently\u201d disagrees with Howard&#8217;s statement that EHS services are not \u201ccentral\u201d to the I&amp;G mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do see some faculty and staff,\u201d she said. \u201cMy feeling is that this service that we provide to employees is key and central to our mission. I see employees who are very distraught, there is no way that they are going to be able to provide education to any students in a very effective way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez went on to say that especially the mental health services the Campus Health Center provides are essential, considering difficulty throughout Las Cruces in obtaining help. She says most psychologists\/psychiatrists \u2014 who are \u201cbailing out of Las Cruces\u201d \u2014 have three-to-six-month waiting lists even\u00a0for\u00a0individuals with health-care plans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(EHS) is crucial to what we do here,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t keep our employees healthy in a mental way, then we\u2019re not going to have students who want to come here and be educated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judi Voelz, the Health Center\u2019s medical director, called EHS \u201can investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know if you try to meet with your (health plan\u2019s) doctor for your colds and your coughs and your flus, you\u2019re getting an appointment at the end of the week,\u201d she said. \u201cSo (NMSU) employees are going to be sitting at home for four or five days waiting to see their doctor, and that\u2019s lost time here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>EHS can see employees immediately, such as those who were stung by bees near Garcia Annex in early March.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to primary care services, Voelz said, EHS also offers such services as immunizations, physicals for campus police officers and firefighters, and \u2014 perhaps its largest contribution \u2014 workman\u2019s compensation services, all at \u201cseverely reduced cost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Voelz also disagreed with what NMSU President Garrey Carruthers wrote in a memo advising the NMSU system of the proposed elimination of EHS \u2014 that \u201cthe Student Health Center services would not change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of our providers see students and employees,\u201d Voelz said. \u201cThe proposed elimination of Employee Health Services would take out a doctor and a nurse practitioner, who are also involved in seeing students. So whatever we do to Employee Health Services will directly impact our mission of serving the students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Campus Health Center sees about 29,000 students a year, according to Executive Director Lori McKee.<\/p>\n<h3>Other cuts and cost-saving measures<\/h3>\n<p>In addition to considering the elimination of EHS, Carruthers has also placed \u201ca hold on staff and faculty actions with unrestricted funding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such actions include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Staff position reclassification or faculty position attribute changes<\/li>\n<li>Staff and faculty new position requests<\/li>\n<li>Staff in-range adjustments<\/li>\n<li>Division\/unit\/department reorganizations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cFaculty position attribute changes do not include changes associated with the tenure and promotion process,\u201d Carruthers wrote in a memo. \u201cIt is limited to actions such as changing a vacant position rank from a lower rank to a higher rank.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other measures currently under consideration include reducing administrative salaries above $100,000:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Salaries $100,000 to $149,999 would receive 1-percent cuts.<\/li>\n<li>Salaries $150,000 to $199,999 would receive 2-percent cuts.<\/li>\n<li>Salaries above $200,000 would receive 3-percent cuts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cBecause we have spent the past few years trying to bring our faculty up to market in regard to their salaries, and we would like to avoid undoing this progress, these salary reductions will not include faculty members,\u201d Carruthers wrote in the memo. \u201cAlso, employees who have contracts will be excluded since this would require renegotiating those contracts. However, even though I am a contract employee, I have opted to be included in the reduction because I want to be part of a team solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carruthers\u2019 contract dictates a yearly salary of $385,000. With a three-percent decrease, he would make about $373,450.<\/p>\n<p>Other proposed measures include eliminating retirement benefits for employees hired after July 1, 2016. Sharon Jones, Carruthers\u2019 chief of staff, said there would be no immediate realization of savings by eliminating this benefit, as employees have to work 10 or more years in order to access it, but when you include accrual \u2014 which is the actual dollar amount NMSU would have to pay to retirees \u2014 \u201cit is definitely a savings for the university.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sick-leave buyout is also facing elimination, though details are still being discussed.<\/p>\n<p>At Thursday&#8217;s meeting, several\u00a0audience members expressed concern that the elimination of retirement benefits, sick-leave buyout, and EHS would hurt NMSU\u2019s ability to recruit quality employees, as people who come to work at NMSU often see the benefits packages as balancing out the less-than-national-average salaries.<\/p>\n<p>And lessening NMSU\u2019s staff and faculty recruitment abilities would harm NMSU\u2019s I&amp;G mission, these audience members said.<\/p>\n<p>Jones said she expects these proposals to be either approved or denied by the start of the new fiscal year, July 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s not a single cut \u2014 and there\u2019ll be more than this coming \u2014 that is not going to be hard and that is not going to impact people at NMSU,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n<p>Howard and Carruthers encourage NMSU employees to submit comments to their offices, at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:president@nmsu.edu\">president@nmsu.edu<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:provost@nmsu.edu\">provost@nmsu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Huntsman is The Round Up&#8217;s managing editor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Mexico State University has to eliminate more than $10 million from its budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[196,133],"class_list":["post-142872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-budget","tag-nmsu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}