‘A contractual obligation’: NU regents OK $159,000 salary increase for Gold amid budget cuts
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The University of Nebraska Board of Regents on Thursday approved a contracted salary increase for President Jeffrey Gold.
The Board of Regents voted 10-2 to give Gold a $159,385.95 pay increase for the next fiscal year.
In June 2024, the regents approved Gold’s contract, which says he is eligible for performance-based merit pay of up to 15% of his base salary at the end of each full year of employment.
According to the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, Gold received a 98% performance score for his first year, making him eligible for the full 15%.
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Jim Scheer and Kathy Wilmot were the two regents who opposed the raise for Gold.
Scheer acknowledged the work that Gold has done for NU over the last year, but amid budget concerns, tried to offer another way to pay Gold.
“Part of my concern with the motion is I believe there is the ability to have funds outside the university that could be provided to fund this expense,” Scheer said. “We are in a financial bind. We are continuing to have to reduce services and other things across all the campuses to rectify our budget problems.”
Wilmot had similar concerns.
“We have many families and students who are going to be impacted by these budget cuts that we’re faced with,” she said. “I would say he does deserve a merit pay, but I can’t see us taking that out of our funds that we have since we are cutting so much. If we can find an alternate way of meeting that obligation, that would be my request.”
Regent Ron Schafer said this is an obligation, and Gold is due what he’s owed.
“We signed a contract with Jeff Gold a little over a year ago to pay him X, and if he performs Y, then he also gets Z,” Schafer said. “It’s baked into the contract. It’s not a discretion or a bonus or anything. The metrics are there; he’s achieved those metrics. And so it’s a contractual obligation that, in my opinion, the board should pay.”
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Regent Elizabeth O’Connor also voiced her support in paying Gold.
“There’s no question as to whether the president has met the standards required to get this compensation,” she said. “This contract was voted on by the board and approved in the budget. The university cannot enter into contracts, refuse to honor them and then look for private entities to bail us out.
