IOWA CITY — The data spoke for itself. Unless state funding for salaries increases, the regent universities will continue to not be competitive for needed faculty.

Data on annual salary comparisons gathered by the three regent universities were discussed by the Iowa Board of Regents Human Resource Committee during its meeting Tuesday at the University of Iowa.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and University of Iowa President David Skorton were vocal about the situation both universities are in, as declining state appropriations for faculty salary increases during recent years have left them with unfavorable efforts of “stealing from Peter to pay Paul” to catch up with their peers.

Of the faculty salaries among Iowa State’s nine colleges, only salaries for faculty in the colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture fall above those of the peer average used by Iowa State. Among the remaining colleges, only one, the College of Engineering, meets the peer average.

During the meeting, Iowa City Regent Robert Downer asked if Iowa State and Iowa had made any considerations for extraordinary steps to keep salaries closely in line with peer university averages.

“We’ve been doing what we can, but we haven’t been able to do much at all because of the very limited pool of salary funds,” Geoffroy said.

There were no state appropriations made last fiscal year to account for salary increases this academic year. The result was an $8.5 million internal university reallocation to increase benefits. The reallocation was partially funded through a 2 percent across-the-board cut in the university’s budget, which resulted in the elimination of some teaching positions and the reduction of 568 class sections and more than 12,000 fewer class seats for students.

Faculty salaries have not been equal to the average salary of peer institutions since 1998.

Skorton said the problem has been that while the two institutions have selectively dealt with the issue, peer institutions have been able to push ahead and make gains.

“This has prohibited us from gaining any ground as we constantly try to keep up,” Skorton said. “The resources are very precious, and very little has been able to be done across the board.”

According to the data submitted at the meeting, the average nine-month salary for ISU faculty members is $72,492, with the national average salary for professors at $75,100. Iowa State ranks 49th of the 57 public and private American Association of Universities in the nation.

Although Iowa State compares itself primarily against universities in its peer group of 10 other land-grant institutions in the country, Geoffroy said that the AAU data is “the real set of competition.”

“The learning is, as you can see, Iowa State and the regent universities are very near the bottom of that entire universe; yet these are the institutions we have to compete against for faculty,” he said. “Iowa State has the very lowest percentile by far.”

The committee also viewed a report on faculty and staff retirement and resignation at the universities. Although the data made no correlation or connection between resignations and declining faculty increases, Geoffroy said it’s not hard to see the impact salary levels have had on faculty career decisions.

“We just know from talking to faculty members that they’re very perceptive of what their faculty salaries are and what they generally are elsewhere,” he said.

Turnover rates have increased significantly during the past four years, most notably among professional and scientific staff. The turnover rate in 2001 was 8.5 percent, rising to 9.4 percent in 2002 and dropping, but remaining steady at 7.7 percent in 2003 and 2004.

“It certainly has not gone unnoticed by [professional and scientific] staff that faculty increases have been substantially higher for merit staff,” Geoffroy said. “It has created increasing tension among those employee groups.”

Skorton said he has observed the same tension at Iowa.

Sioux City Regent Sue Nieland asked, “What sort of direction can we get from the institutions to take this information to the next level?”

Both Geoffroy and Skorton said the best way to bridge the gap between where salaries are and where they should be is an agreement from the Iowa Legislature for a four-year partnership of annual increases of $40 million dollars to their budgets.

Through a board proposal, the universities have recommended the regents adopt such a policy as well as approve requests for $672 million of state appropriations for next fiscal year.

Geoffroy said that Iowa State’s average faculty salaries would move to the top third of its peer group with this proposal.

The regents will consider the recommendations at its meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Iowa City.