The following statement was sent by state Rep. Themis Klarides’ office Thursday:
House Republican Leader Themis Klarides, R‑Derby, today criticized UConn President Susan Herbst for going ahead with huge raises for senior staff members given the system wide spending cuts and layoffs throughout state government.
“At a time when hundreds of people are losing their jobs in the executive and judicial branches and budget cuts system wide are severely hurting government services for the needy, to give well-paid senior staff members at UConn big raises defies logic,’’ Klarides said. “I cannot understand the reasoning behind this.’’
A UConn spokesman said the senior staff members were underpaid compared to similar staff at other schools based on a benchmarking tool applied in higher education. “I don’t know what the CUPA/HR/Sibson national benchmarking data shows, nor do I care. Ask a laid off state worker if he or she cares,’’ Klarides said.
Some of the raises totaled in the tens of thousands of dollars. Herbst herself will receive pay hikes and bonuses totaling nearly $195,000 this year, under the contract she signed.
