Budget and compensation revisited

A 4.5% "grid increase" has been requested for the FY2010 budget and it will probably be the last time a "grid increase" is used to include our step increases within the budget request. It looks like the System will not be going back to the old way of doing step increases, either, and are investigating other options. The Staff Compensation Task Force is looking into other ideas, including merit-based raises (possibly with evaluations required), using an end-of-year bonus concept, and others. They're always looking for ideas, so feel free to pass them on, if you have one! (Once one is decided upon and approved, it won't be put in place until FY2010 at the earliest we're told).

There is also a high probability that health care premiums will be going up, as early as next July 1. There's still discussion and calculations to be made to determine exactly how much it can go up; we will let you know as soon as we hear anything.

Another item the SCTF is working on is the fact that the "grid increase" request for FY2010 is 4.5%. Being that the request is based on the cost-of-living in Anchorage (which is currently already at 4.6%), the chance that the new rates almost definitely won't cover the cost-of-living increase in addition to the health care premium increase is incredibly high. The SCTF is meeting next week and hopes to get some answers and ideas out of it.