Annually the Board will decide whether to give District employees an across the board increase. Although the Across-the-Board increase is intended to help employees keep pace with changes in their cost of living, the Board-approved increases have actually outpaced the annual Consumer Price Increase.
Across-the-board adjustments to base salary are recommended only if the District's operating budget can bear the increased personnel costs in future budget years. Personnel costs typically total approximately 80% of the District's operating budget. The Board has approved across-the-board increases in every year, except the 2003-04 Academic Year, a year that saw significant State funding cuts. In the 2003-04 year, when the District Board concluded that it could not do an increase to the base salary, it awarded a one-time pay of $750 per employee, recognizing the significant increases in out-of-pocket costs like health care. Each year when an across the board increase is approved, consideration is given whether to give an equal percentage to each employee, to give a set dollar amount, or to give a variable percentage increase, which declines as an employee's salary moves higher through the salary range.
Market Review of NHMCCD’s Compensation Plan
Annually the District's Director of Compensation conducts a Market Review of the District's compensation plan.
In order to test the competitiveness and appropriateness of our compensation schedules the District's Director of Compensation periodically conducts a review of comparable employers and rates of pay for identical or similar jobs. Our District participates in annual salary surveys with other Texas community colleges, as well as in national and local surveys.
The District's goal is to have our faculty compensation rank within the top 25% of Texas community colleges; for non-faculty full-time positions, the goal is to match at the average rate of pay for Texas community colleges, and local- and state-funded agencies and employers.
Reviews of the 2003-04 salaries reflect that NHMCCD has reached its goal with both faculty and non-faculty compensation.
