COSTA MESA — The financial picture at the local community college district has been severe and well publicized: More than 1,000 classes cut, the sale of the KOCE television station for extra cash, offices and campuses closed on Friday and on top of it all, managing to become financially solvent enough to just get off a state fiscal watch list.

So this week's decision to substantially raise the salaries of the Coast Community College District's highest-paid employees has caused an uproar with students and some faculty.

"The timing is pretty insensitive," said Madeline Levy, student trustee for the district's board. "[The raises] won't push more students out of classes, but we could have added more than we have now."

Trustees voted 4 to 1 to raise the salaries of its college presidents and vice chancellors from the current range of $129,631 to $131,805 up to $145,000 to $160,000.

The district has three vice chancellors and three presidents. According to district reports, the raises will total $92,214.

A motion to raise the chancellor's salary from $186,608 to $190,000, plus $10,000 for travel and mileage expenses passed by the same margin.

Those in favor argued that the higher salaries are needed to attract the talent needed to effectively lead the district. Those against question the timing of the move and the size of the increase.

"I think the increase is way too much," said trustee Jerry Patterson, the sole vote against the raises. "We have good people here who do a good job, but nobody ever gets paid what they think they should be paid."

Patterson proposed merit-based raises after performance reviews, rather than automatic step-ups and additional cost of living increases, but his motion did not pass. As it stands, the salaries will start at $145,000 and increase to $160,000.

Trustee George Brown agreed that the higher pay is necessary to attract the quality of candidates they want to maintain or raise the district's standards. The sale of KOCE-TV, leasing of district-owned land and passage of a school-improvement bond, he said, will mean close to $4 million more for the district each year, which will cover the raises.

"And good supervisors can go in and organize the school district," he said. "They can streamline things and get them in line and get more money for faculty and teachers."

ATTRACTIVE OFFERS

The money spent on the raises in the first year could go to restore 28 classes for students, said Kristina Bruning, president of the faculty union for the district.

"The rule of thumb is that a dean should earn 10% more than faculty and top administrators should earn about 20% more," Bruning said. "It used to be that way. But the top of the salary range for faculty is $82,000. [The chancellor's salary] is more than 100% [more] than [what] the faculty earns."

But attracting and retaining quality candidates requires adequate compensation, said John Renley, vice chancellor of human resources for the district. A salary survey of similar districts taken before the vote, he said, showed Coast Community College District eighth of 11 for chancellor salaries and second to last for presidents and vice chancellors.

When OCC President Margaret Gratton left in 2002, Renley said, the district could not find a suitable replacement. It named former vice chancellor Gene Farrell as interim president, then named him president when a second search didn't net any suitable candidates.

Gratton was earning $123,995 when she retired and Farrell was earning $132,270 before the board's vote last week.

Both the president and vice chancellor positions have received the same annual increases as the rest of the district's management, staff and faculty since 1988, district spokeswoman Erin Cohn said. The last substantial raise was in 1980 when all management received a 10% to 12% increase.

TRYING TO COMPETE

The district will have to replace Farrell when he retires next year and find a new president for Golden West College when Ken Yglesias takes over as chancellor July 1. The recent search, Renley said, didn't attract as much interest as the district had hoped, and he said the salary, listed as "negotiable," was part of the reason.

"Our chancellor [position] should have got more candidates," Renley said. "We're the fourth largest community college district in the state and about seventh in the country and we had only 21 applicants. Several of them had presidency [on their resumes] but others did not."

After Wednesday's vote, trustee Paul Berger said that the increased salaries were still not competitive with those in other districts.

According to the district's survey, Rancho Santiago Community College District in inland Orange County topped the list for chancellors' salaries with a total compensation of $220,167. San Bernardino's district came last at $170,340.

A 2001-02 survey of faculty salaries for the same schools placed Coast in the middle of the pack. Faculty will get a cost of living raise, which is written into their contracts. Renley expects it to be in the range of the 1.8% given to school districts.

This year, district employees will likely not see the raises promised for years the district experiences growth. Fewer classes offered, Bruning said, equals less chance for a raise.

THE PRICE OF EDUCATION

In Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Supt. Rob Barbot earns a base salary of $189,754. He earns an extra 4% for his doctorate degree and annual merit-based increases of 8% plus $750 a month for mileage.

Assistant superintendents in Newport-Mesa earn between $108,501 and $132,008 a year, plus 4% doctoral stipend and merit raises and $500 for mileage.

According to University of California documents, Ralph Cicerone, chancellor for UC Irvine, earns $280,000 a year. He also gets use of the campus chancellor's house, a car, a $30,600 administrative fund and $84,900 annually for house maintenance, including utilities and phone bill.

UC San Diego's new chancellor, Marye Anne Fox, has a base salary of $350,000, up from the previous chancellor's salary of $281,000, according to UC spokesman Trey Davis.

A 2003 survey in the Chronicle of Higher Education of salaries for university presidents put the University of Pennsylvania at the top with $580,357.

The raises at Coast will not mean that more classes will be taken away from students, Renley said. But it does mean fewer new ones could be added.

Some of the money for the raises will come from retirements in administrative positions that will not be filled. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, however, is expecting community colleges to pick up the slack from reduced freshman enrollment at the state universities.