PFC: Resurfacing stipend discussion causes controversy among members
Continued from page 1
group’s current service level when
making the executive recommenda
tion, but that calculation included
room for growth for fiscally responsi
ble groups as well as mandated in
creases to account for necessary
growth in the coming year. Pohowal
la said implementing the current
service level to solve the funding
problem would entail subtracting the
extra growth.
Diss and Sweetman suggested that
because the amount of time it would
take for controllers to calculate the
necessary funding levels for each
group totals more than 100 hours in a
period of less than a week, using the
current service-level approach may
be the most feasible option.
“I think you should decrease the
groups who the controllers recom
mended decreases to and give cur
rent service levels to other groups,”
Diss said.
PFC member Mike Sherman ques
tioned Diss and Sweetman’s sugges
tion to use the current service level
without growth recommendations as
defined by the controllers.
“What we’re really talking about is
passing something that would imple
ment the exec recommendations mi
nus growth,” Sherman said.
But Creighton-Neiwert said the ex
ecutive recommendations were not
purely current service levels and the
growth calculations differed from
group to group.
“Not every exec recommendation
is going to be consistent,” Creighton
Neiwert said. “I don’t think every
contract was looked at the same; I
don’t think every department was
looked at the same.”
PFC member Khanh Le made it
clear in the beginning of the two
hour meeting that he would not
make a decision until he knew the
fiscal impact of each option, and he
said reducing budgets that have al
ready been approved is “awkward”
and goes against the purpose of
the PFC.
“I don’t want a program to come
and say ‘Hey, what are you doing?”’
Le said.
Creighton-Neiwert said it was
necessary to decide on a method as
soon as possible in order for the
controllers to have enough time to
make the calculations before the
March 7 submission date.
“You’ve got to take a little faith and
a little leap and run with the num
bers,” Creighton-Neiwert said.
Newly appointed PFC member
Jared Axelrod expressed concern
that agreeing to go by the current
service level would not give the PFC
a concrete idea of what the fiscal
impact would be on the groups and
could inhibit the growth of com
mendable groups.
“It seems like we’re basically just
taking a shot in the dark,”
Axelrod said.
Sweetman said the timeliness of
the situation mandates a decision
be made immediately and said the
current service-level approach is
likely to be the best option.
“It may be kind of a shot in the dark,
but I think it’s fair,” Sweetman said.
Ravassipour said the approach
has both pros and cons but is
the best method to use without
picking and choosing which budg
ets to re-examine.
“I think it’d make it easier on the
committee to do the current service
level,” Ravassipour said.
PFC Vice Chair Mason Quiroz
agreed the current service level ap
proach may be the best one to take,
given the time frame in which all
budget proposals must be finalized.
Quiroz said there is a number of
things to consider when finalizing
the current service-level approach,
such as the fact that newly formed
groups have a current service level
of zero.
Quiroz said defining what a
current service level is may be
the best thing to do before making
a decision.
“We’ve given it a title, which is
great, but we haven’t defined it
yet,” Quiroz said.
If everyone has a clear definition
of what that level is, “instead of a
shot in the dark, it would be more
like an educated guess,” Quiroz
said. “I think that’s the only way it’s
going to be truly fair and equal
to everyone.”
Creighton-Neiwert also empha
sized the importance of having a.
clear definition of what calculating
a current service level entails.
“You can end up penalizing a
good group if you define current
service level incorrectly,” Creighton
Neiwert said.
Diss said the controllers “spent
hours upon hours” defining the cur
rent service level for each group,
and redoing it may prove to be im
possible given the time constraints.
Diss said it is crucial the PFC de
cide on its definition of current serv
ice level as soon as possible so the
controllers can begin making the
necessary calculations.
“Until you define it, we can’t do
anything,” Diss said. “We’ve given
you all we can with the current
service level.”
PFC members questioned whether
implementing the current service lev
el based on the executive recommen
dation would actually put the com
mittee under the 7 percent
benchmark, something Creighton
Neiwert said could take some calcu
lations to discover.
“I don’t want to tell you guys
you’d be under 7 percent and then
have you not be,” Creighton-Neiw
ert said. “I’d feel horrible.”
Le said the time it takes to calcu
late the financial impacts of the
various definitions of current serv
ice levels may mean the committee
will have to make a decision and
deal with the consequences as
they arise.
“My suggestion is not voting on
it, just doing it first,” Le said. “I just
want to do it then figure it out later.”
Quiroz said trusting the
controllers’ calculations may be
the best thing to do, given
the amount of time the PFC has
to make a decision and finalize
budget recommendations.
“If anybody’s going to make an ed
ucated guess, I think the controllers
should make an educated guess,”
Quiroz said. “I just think we should
listen to the controllers.”
Other plans discussed for decreas
ing the spending benchmark includ
ed re-examining group stipend mod
els, which Pohowalla suggested
when it was first announced the PFC
had overspent its benchmark at the
Jan. 31 PFC hearing.
Creighton-Neiwert said examin
ing groups’ stipends is a viable op
tion because approximately
$289,000 of the PFC budget goes
toward stipends.
But the stipend suggestion proved
controversial, and members seemed
wary to address a topic they said has
already been discussed in depth.
“I don’t want anything to happen
to the stipends, and everyone
knows why,” Quiroz said, adding
that decreasing stipends could
“have a tremendous effect on
(group) leadership.”
Le suggested contacting groups
to get insight into the situation.
Quiroz also suggested working
with groups with larger budgets
to find areas where funding can
be reduced.
“We’re going to need a lot of help
from everybody to really solve this is
sue,” Quiroz said.
Pohowalla questioned the fairness
of approving funding benchmarks for
groups and then picking and choos
ing which budgets to reallocate.
Sherman suggested applying the
same mandated decrease to every
group, an idea Creighton-Neiwert
said the PFC has done in the past and
did not produce desirable results.
“I think it was the worst thing I’ve
ever seen the PFC do,” Creighton
Neiwert said.
A 2 percent decrease means dif
ferent things to different groups de
pending on the size of their budgets
and has the possibility to “com
pletely hinder them,” Creighton
Neiwert said.
Quiroz suggested crafting a way
to discuss the funding reallocation
with groups beforehand and mak
ing sure everyone knows how the
current service level is being de
fined “to at least soften the blows”
that may come if groups react nega
tively to the decreases.
Pohowalla said she is hopeful
groups will be understanding of the
PFC’s situation and realize the reallo
cations must be done if the inciden
tal fee is to remain at the same level
and not increase next year.
“They have to understand where
we’re coming from,” Pohowalla said.
meghanncuniff@dailyememld.com
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