![\"Garrey](\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Carruthers-Garrey-336x275.jpg\")
Courtesy photo<\/p>
Garrey Carruthers<\/p><\/div>\n
The cuts\u00a0are part of the university’s still-developing\u00a0plan to address a $10.7 million annual budget deficit caused by decreased state funding\u00a0and falling enrollment.<\/p>\n
Carruthers, Provost Dan Howard, and many other employees making $200,000 a year or more will see their pay cut by 3 percent on\u00a0Friday, when the new fiscal year begins. Many employees\u00a0making between $150,000 and $199,999 annually will see their pay cut by 2 percent. The salaries of many employees making between $100,000 and $149,999 will be cut by 1 percent.<\/p>\n
Faculty are exempt from the cuts because the university has spent several years trying to bring their pay up to market value, NMSU spokesman Justin Bannister said. Coaches\u00a0work under legally binding contracts and their salaries also won’t be cut, he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to Carruthers and Howard, all deans and vice presidents are among the employees taking pay cuts.<\/p>\n
Carruthers first announced the cuts in an April 4 memo<\/a> to employees. The chancellor, like coaches, is\u00a0a contract employee who could\u00a0have been exempt, but he wrote that he opted for a pay reduction “because I want to be part of a team solution.”<\/p>\n During the current fiscal year that ends Thursday, Carruthers made $385,000<\/a>. For the fiscal year that begins Friday, he will make $373,450, Bannister said. Howard will see his pay decrease from $289,722 this fiscal year to $281,039 next fiscal year.<\/p>\n Of course, the $190,000 in\u00a0salary cuts doesn’t\u00a0come close to addressing the budget crisis. And the Board of Regents\u00a0rejected a proposed tuition increase<\/a> to help cover the shortfall in April.<\/p>\n The university is considering other options. On Monday, the Regents cut annual leave, sick leave and insurance benefits<\/a> for many\u00a0current and future employees. But how much money that will save isn’t clear.<\/p>\n Initially the savings from reducing benefits won’t add up to much, Bannister said. Employees hired starting Friday\u00a0will receive fewer benefits\u00a0than current employees, so the savings will add up over time.<\/p>\n For example, the university will continue offering retiree health coverage for current employees but won’t for employees hired starting Friday. The university currently spends $3.5 million a year on retiree coverage, Bannister said, so the savings will grow over time as new employees replace current workers.<\/p>\n The university will also quit\u00a0buying\u00a0back sick leave when employees stop working at the university — a cut that applies for\u00a0most current employees and all workers\u00a0hired beginning\u00a0Friday. The university had been spending\u00a0about $178,000 a year buying back sick leave, Bannister said.<\/p>\n “These cuts bring the university more in line with the best practices offered by other employers today,” he said.<\/p>\n The university is considering other options. Eliminating the\u00a0Employee Health Center<\/a>\u00a0is among the possibilities that has been discussed. Administrators\u00a0will hold a town-hall meeting in July, Bannister has said, \u201cto bring the community up-to-date with the current budget situation, university restructuring efforts and what additional measures may be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n