Thank you for exposing the University of Maine System’s practice of awarding pay raises while systematically shortchanging the core academic mission: providing excellent higher education for Maine’s citizens (“UMaine System raises total $7 million,” April 3). This news should give pause to all who care about higher education in our state and the future well-being of our university system.

In fact, the Press Herald actually underreports UMS payroll abuses.

The full cost of the increased compensation handed out over the last six years also includes benefits that currently cost just under 50 percent of salary. Remember, too, the raises and benefits are cumulative. The 2006 increases have been paid for six years, 2007’s for five years, and so on. The budget-busting total: a whopping $38.5 million.

In Bangor, the administration awarded 104 people compensation increases totaling more than $5 million. What exactly do these 104 people do?

The system has a provost. So does each campus. The system has a human resources officer. So does each campus. It has a chief financial officer, a registrar, an attorney, an enrollment manager, an information technology director. And so does each campus.

But in our classrooms, lecture halls and seminar rooms, things are deteriorating and students are suffering.

Invoking austerity, administrators lay off staff and refuse to hire new faculty. Nevertheless, they found millions for already bloated campus and system bureaucracies.

Money for these raises comes from the system’s unrestricted net assets. These have doubled since 2009, from $84 million to $166 million.

Direct instructional spending has, however, remained flat, at a paltry 27 percent.

These policies undermine higher education.

Susan F. Feiner

USM professor of women’s and gender studies, professor of economics

Yarmouth

As a faculty member at the University of Southern Maine, I would like to join in the discussion about the financial picture of USM raised in recent articles about salary raises at the campuses of the University of Maine System in the Bangor Daily News, The Portland Press Herald and the USM Free Press.

While the articles document various salary increases, they fail to mention other important numbers, such as these: President Selma Botman streamlined USM’s internal structure by reducing the number of colleges from eight to five, saving $1.4 million; $800,000 was reinvested in the five remaining colleges, resulting in a net savings of $600,000. She has delivered a balanced budget every year since she came to USM.

She repaid USM’s $4.4 million debt to the UMaine System three years early and started to build reserves. She funded key new faculty positions. Botman has shown great fiscal responsibility in a period of great financial stress for the state of Maine and the citizens of Maine.

What is also particularly noteworthy is how she has put the students and their needs at the heart of USM’s mission. This spring, she provided grants to help students pay for their housing in the dorms. Students entering in September 2012 will profit from $1 million in institutional financial aid.

These numbers tell a very different story than the one brought forward by some people who find change such a stressful and challenging process.

Is change easy? No. Is it necessary? Yes. Will USM be better off? Yes. That’s the ultimate bottom line for me.

Nancy Erickson

Portland

Happy about paper deal; wondering about Nemitz

I was excited to read of the acquisition of a majority share of The Portland Press Herald by Maine Values LLC, a firm headed by S. Donald Sussman. It was comforting also to read Sussman’s statement that, “I’m a businessman, not a newspaper editor. I have tremendous faith in the editors and newsroom staff. … They are dedicated journalists who will continue to do their jobs professionally and independently. They report the news thoroughly and fairly, and I’m not going to interfere with that in any way.”

No word yet, apparently, on the fate of Bill Nemitz.

Tom Zimmerman

Portland

Portland loses revenue with actions at golf course

Michael Bobinsky, Portland’s director of public services, says the Riverside South Clubhouse will be built in the parking lot, which would be a monumental and irreversible mistake. This will result in a loss of 23 parking spaces, and the resulting traffic congestion could put golfers and children at risk. I’ve written to city officials and listed 16 reasons against building in the parking lot. This project needs to be stopped.

The department will spend $150,000 on the clubhouse. I received quotes of $12,000 and “free labor.”

The south course has been without flush toilets for seven years and may be in violation of state codes. Total membership has decreased 145 members in the last two years, which represents $98,535 in lost revenue. Total revenue decreased $220,046 in three years.

The South Portland course earns $100,000 more than Riverside South. If properly managed, the south course’s revenue could be $100,000 greater than South Portland’s.

The city has given away potential revenue from an ongoing lumber operation at the courses. It appears the city could be in violation of state tree-cutting codes since it did not obtain a permit. The problem is that the city polices itself.

The golf courses are closed for more than 100 special events during prime golf time, preventing other golfers from patronizing the courses and resulting in lost revenue of $100,000 annually. The course loses another $100,000 of potential revenue in the fall/winter season.

The courses are overstaffed by $200,000 annually or $2 million over 10 years.

South course revenue is 54 percent cash, yet internal controls are grossly lacking. I have requested a forensic audit to explore financial discrepancies.

The city entered into a lease on July 21, 2005, without performing due diligence, which conceivably cost taxpayers $300,000 and lost revenue of $50,000 annually or $350,000 in seven years.

Janet Daigle

Portland