During a telephone conference meeting held Thursday, the Board of Trustees of U. Central Florida voted to proceed with bonuses due to administration members.
The payouts total nearly $289,000.
UCF President John Hitt will receive the highest bonus, which totals $143,085.01 according to a 2006-09 Performance Unit Plan Payment document available on the Board of Trustees website.
Other administrators that will receive bonuses include William Merck, the vice president for Administration and Finance, and Robert Holmes, the vice president for Development and Alumni Relations, who will get almost $20,000 each.
Retired Provost and Executive Vice President Terry Hickey will receive $26,572.93, the largest bonus amount after Hitt’s.
Tony Waldrop will replace Hickey this fall.
The bonuses were given to faculty members for succeeding at performance goals set for the 2006-09 period that ended June 30, 2009.
According to the Board of Trustees Compensation and Labor Committee Report and
Recommendations, when that three-year cycle ended, the president and vice presidents requested that any payments due to them be suspended because of current budget restraints.
The Compensation and Labor Committee concluded that the university needed to make the payments due no later than Oct. 1, 2012, but the agreement also stated that the board had the option of making those payments sooner.
The report states that, “The agreement also provided for interest calculated annually on the balance, using a one-year Vanguard Certificate of Deposit rate, which was set at 1.4 percent for the first year.”
That is why Hitt’s initial bonus payout amount increased by $1,650.
According to an article from the Orlando Sentinel, “Trustees on Thursday decided to distribute the payouts to Hitt and the others now rather than wait a few years more and have interest build up on the owed money.”
Administrators may not be the only ones who receive bonuses this year.
According to their website, the UCF chapter of the United Faculty of Florida began bargaining with the Board of Trustees on July 14 for a one-time bonus amount of $1,500 and a 1 percent pay increase for UCF faculty and professional staff.
Hitt, who became the fourth president of UCF in 1992, is the second highest-paid public university president in Florida, and he is ranked 32nd nationwide, according to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Future reported in February that Hitt’s base salary is $463,500, more than $27,000 more than the median base salary amount which was disclosed in the report.
The report also stated that Florida state law allows taxpayer dollars to cover only $225,000 per institution.
Private donations, namely from alumni, cover most of public university presidents’ salaries and benefits.
The Future also reported that in November, the Board voted to give Hitt a pay increase, but he declined because of the bad economy.
Hitt isn’t the only university president to be deferred from performance bonuses.
The St. Petersburg Times reported in December that USF President Judy Genshaft was set to relieve nearly $94,000 in bonuses but her payment will be deferred until the economy improves or she reaches the end of her contract in June 2012.
USA Today reported that University of Florida President Bernie Machen received his bonus and donated the entire amount of $285,000 that he relieved in 2008 to a scholarship program he founded for low-income students at risk of losing their chance at a college education.
The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Sept. 23 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Live Oak Center.