Board gives chancellor $20k raise
by Brian Wainstein, Editor-In-Chief

    The TCC Board of Trustees approved a $20,000 salary increase for the chancellor, raising his yearly income to $270,000, and renewed his three-year contract at its Oct. 16 meeting.
   “The board looks at the chancellor’s salary in the final part of an overall performance review,” Chris Smith, director of public relations and marketing, said.
   “As you would do in all endeavors, you’d look at comparable positions, particularly chancellors at other large community districts,” Smith added.
   Part of the research included professional surveys, according to Smith.
   Peggy Southall, director of public information for the Texas Association of Community Colleges, said the organization conducts annual salary surveys of all the community college districts in Texas.
   “There is a whole gamut of salary positions that we survey annually; Tarrant County is structured differently and is larger than most college districts,” she said.
   Taking that survey into account, the board also tracked the progress of the chancellor’s personal goals.
   “The goals were agreed on by the board and the chancellor; they are different from TCC’s institutional goals,” Smith said.
   The raise in the chancellor’s compensation indicates that he met those personal, private goals, she said.
   This increase follows a 2 percent across-the-board raise for all TCC employees, excluding the chancellor, for increased workload because of a hiring freeze after Texas cut state-funding 7 percent.
   Texas also recently cut college employee benefits and insurance to help with its budget shortfall. However, the college board allotted extra monies to help cover the added insurance costs for faculty and staff.