Cuesta College delays pay cuts for top administrators

July 16, 2011

The Cuesta College Board of Trustees voted last week to delay voluntary pay cuts for interim College President Gil Stork and the college’s three vice presidents – amounting to about $36,390. [Tribune]

In May, the college’s board of trustees approved $2.9 million in cuts for the 2011-12 fiscal year — affecting the jobs of about 120 employees, the Tribune said. Administrators had said they would take a voluntary 5 percent reduction in pay as part of a supposedly across the board pay reduction program.

“We were doing that to lead the college, but now the state budget has come out and the rest of the college staff may not need to take a reduction,” Stork told the tribune.

Remaining salary and pay cuts include five layoffs, an 8.3 percent pay cut to 43 – non-teaching jobs and a limiting of the hours for about 70 part-time faculty.

The board’s decision to delay talks of upper administration pay cuts until December when the state could make additional cuts has upset the classified union, which represents the employees who did take the cuts.

“One of the questions being asked is: Why aren’t the leaders leading?” said John Fetcho, president of the Cuesta College Classified United Employees to the Tribune. “We’ve been told that they wanted to delay it until such a time as a reduction is required of all employee groups, but the classified employees have already been required to give up things.”

Stork announced plans to run for Cuesta College’s full time president position last week. He has served as the interim president since January 2010.