A recent study released by The Washington Business Journal shows professors are the best-paid Virginia state employees, including many University faculty members. The top-paid employee, Arthur Garson, University provost and executive vice president, earns $706,800 annually. Of the top 15 highest-paid, eight are faculty members at the University.
In Virginia, 250 professors and college administrators at public institutions make more than $200,000, while Gov. Bob McDonnell has an annual salary of $175,000.
It may be tempting to simply compare university employee salaries to those of government officials, but Roger Hughlett, executive producer of The Washington Business Journal, believes this method of comparison may be slightly misleading.
"It's not really comparing apples to apples," he said. "There's no point comparing a provost to a game warden."
Hughlett also said the Journal did not conduct the study in an attempt to criticize state funding, but rather to give readers an understanding of what a state employee makes annually. "Education is one of the most important elements a state can fund," Hughlett said. "We haven't heard anything critical [about the allocation of funds]." The state allocates the largest share of its money - 39.4 percent - to education, according to the Department of Planning and Budget.
Commerce School Dean Carl Zeithaml is listed as the seventh highest-paid state employee. Zeithaml stressed the University's need to pay employees well to maintain a competitive standard while contending with other top-25 universities. Zeithaml said any debate about state employees' salaries should focus on professors' and administrators' pay in relation to discipline and rank.
"The relevant comparison group is other professors at other major universities," Zeithaml said. He said when recruiting faculty, the University must offer high salaries to create incentive for the best professors in various academic fields to come here.
The University has frozen salaries since December 2007, and Ziethaml said the state and University will begin to consider salary increases only if there is a serious risk of losing an employee.
State resources available for appropriation totaled about $81.6 billion for the two-year period between 2008-2010, according to the BPD. Individual income tax, vehicle and highway taxes, federal grants and institutional revenue all contribute to the total revenue.
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