By Alan Lytle
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The outgoing president of the University of Kentucky will be getting a sizable pay increase for both the last and the present academic year.
UK Trustees on Tuesday voted to award Lee Todd a $157,000 annual raise. The package also includes a potential $50,000 bonus for Todd, which the president has indicated he will not accept.
The the vote was not unanimous. Trustees Joe Peek and Sheila Brothers voted against the proposal. Peek says he doesn't agree that raising the President's salary is necessary to finding an adequate successor for Todd.
"How much we're currently paying doesn't say how much we will pay for a new candidate. For faculty members, whatever they're being paid today, to replace them we'll probably have to pay more. So the same argument can be made then, if we're worried about being able to hire new high-quality faculty, then shouldn't we pay current faculty much more, because otherwise new faculty won't come here?"
Several other trustees claimed that Todd has been underpaid for years compared to other Top 20 Institutions. Todd's base salary is $304,000 a year, and he receives an additional $50,000 for serving as chair of the research foundation board and the athletics association board.
The raise approved Tuesday would bring Todd's annual salary to just over $511,000.